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Squarespace sales tax issues

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  So we all know that squarespace lacks the ability to correctly charge sales tax. (IE local option sales tax). But, their integration with stripe is also an issue. I wanted to talk to someone on the phone, but we all know that isn't possible either.

   I use Quickbooks to run my business. I get the sales amount from stripe imported using a app in quickbooks that imports the data from stripe, square, and paypal.  Well stripe doesn't break out the sales tax they collect only the amount they collect, their fee, customer name etc etc. My quickbooks is constantly in need of attention because I have to send in my tax liability report to the state of Iowa every quarter. (Saying what jurisdictions get what amount from my sales tax pool) So first of all my tax collected is wrong because squarespace has no realistic way to enter tax obligation other than hand entering 5000+ 9 digit zip codes and maintaining them every month encase of changes. And their chosen partner (Stripe) doesn't pass thru the amount of tax paid. Every month I have to go thru and find / fix hundreds of orders in quickbooks to make sure my taxes are paid correctly. If I'm incorrect in this someone please point out what im doing wrong. To me the only solution is to switch to someone other than Stripe/Squarespace, because honestly it doesn't seem like either really cares that business owners are possibly getting into tax issues with their state.

Edited by SStKelley
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  • 2 months later...
Guest CartSpan

Greetings SStKelly,

I author the CartSpan eCommerce integration for QuickBooks accounting...which supports Squarespace.  I haven't encountered any issues with the Squarespace API exposing tax collected during the import process.  Out of the box, most eCommerce platforms don't calculate tax down to the address level...it's simply outside of their core-competence.  You would need an add-on like TaxJar to achieve this level of granularity in the tax calculation process.  TaxJar is advertised in the Extensions area of this site if you have the complex requirement of collecting/reporting by multiple jurisdictions.  Services like TaxJar will prepare your state returns and remit payment on your behalf...for a small fee of course.  My product then simply imports tax into QuickBooks as a common line-item to give you an idea of your ongoing tax liability. 

Hope this helps,
Scott

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  • 6 months later...
On 1/2/2020 at 6:30 PM, CartSpan said:

Greetings SStKelly,

I author the CartSpan eCommerce integration for QuickBooks accounting...which supports Squarespace.  I haven't encountered any issues with the Squarespace API exposing tax collected during the import process.  Out of the box, most eCommerce platforms don't calculate tax down to the address level...it's simply outside of their core-competence.  You would need an add-on like TaxJar to achieve this level of granularity in the tax calculation process.  TaxJar is advertised in the Extensions area of this site if you have the complex requirement of collecting/reporting by multiple jurisdictions.  Services like TaxJar will prepare your state returns and remit payment on your behalf...for a small fee of course.  My product then simply imports tax into QuickBooks as a common line-item to give you an idea of your ongoing tax liability. 

Hope this helps,
Scott

I have a very similar issue and bookkeeping is a nightmare. I don't need Stripe to calculate sales tax, I only need it to import the information from Squarespace so that I can easily import everything to Quickbooks.
For example, if I make a $6.00 sale, Squarespace collects an extra 0.42 cents for sales tax. Stripe processes the $6.42 transaction and deducts a 0.31 cent fee, giving me a payout of $6.11. When Quickbooks sees that payout hit my bank, I have no way to separate out what was sales, what was tax, and what was a fee.
It's so frustrating because our in-person POS with Square does everything 100% automatically!
Any advice?

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  • 7 months later...
  • 7 months later...

Same problem, and I don't believe there is a fix in sight. Last year I attempted to get to the bottom of this, I spent 6 hours on the phone bouncing from company to company until I was actually talking to DBA's on either side of the equation on SS and Stripe, and they said that the other weren't formatting their metadata and their columns properly to coincide with they way the other was passing data, and no side was going to repair it.  If this is actually the problem, which I can in no way verify, I'm finding this really hard to believe that these companies can't find a solution to get this right and make this effortless. The answer to me was, "buy some middleware and pay them monthly or enter it all in manually". Neither of these is the solution I'm paying for--on ALL platforms.

If that's the answer, Squarespace / Stripe / QuickBooks Online should be listed as incompatible, instead of them bragging that they work so well together. I'm currently looking into different platforms that don't require Stripe.

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  • 6 months later...

I have the same problem with PayPal.

For example, SquareSpace adds $11.48 in tax to a $164 sale with $7.50 in shipping. But when the transaction is submitted to PayPal, I see only a single number $182.98 with no way of differentiating between product, shipping, and tax. I then have to manually break out tax on every transaction after it is imported into QuickBooks. 😭

Would love to hear if anyone has found a solution that doesn't involve adding third party services.

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15 hours ago, Libertie said:

I have the same problem with PayPal.

I have replied to your post here:

 

Me: I'm Paul, a SQSP user for >18 yrs & Circle Leader since 2017. I value honesty, transparency, diversity and good design ♥.
Work: Founder of SF.DIGITAL. We provide high quality original extensions to supercharge your Squarespace website. 
Content: Views and opinions are my own. Links in my posts may refer to my own SF.DIGITAL products or may be affiliate links.
Forum advice is completely free. You can thank me by selecting a feedback emoji. Buying a coffee is generous but optional.

Would you like your customers to be able to mark their favourite products in your Squarespace store?

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  • 9 months later...

I have the same problem.  SquareSpace sends the transactions to Stripe, and in SquareSpace I can see the amount for the merchandise, shipping fees, and sales tax. But in Stripe, only the gross amount collected from the customer, and the fee the Stripe charged on that transaction. I use Synder to bring the transactions in from Stripe to QuickBooks Online, but Synder cannot bring in the detail (shipping fees and sales tax) because Stripe does not show Synder that information. Is SquareSpace giving that detail to Stripe? If not, can I bring information directly into QBO from SquareSpace? And if so, then how do folks quickly reconcile the deposits being made into one's bank account by Stripe, with Sales Made? Is it necessary to abandon SquareSpace and Stripe and find a different website site platform and credit card processor? Any suggestions / solutions would be greatly appreciated. 

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On 1/26/2023 at 8:20 PM, acgoggin said:

Is SquareSpace giving that detail to Stripe? If not, can I bring information directly into QBO from SquareSpace?

Squarespace only sends the transaction amount to Stripe, so it won't be possible to look at the detail (shipping and tax) from Stripe.

However, there is a Quickbooks extension for Squarespace that automatically creates a sale (invoice or receipt) in Quickbooks whenever an order is placed through Squarespace.

Did this help? Please give feedback by clicking an icon below  ⬇️

Edited by paul2009

Me: I'm Paul, a SQSP user for >18 yrs & Circle Leader since 2017. I value honesty, transparency, diversity and good design ♥.
Work: Founder of SF.DIGITAL. We provide high quality original extensions to supercharge your Squarespace website. 
Content: Views and opinions are my own. Links in my posts may refer to my own SF.DIGITAL products or may be affiliate links.
Forum advice is completely free. You can thank me by selecting a feedback emoji. Buying a coffee is generous but optional.

Would you like your customers to be able to mark their favourite products in your Squarespace store?

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  • 1 year later...

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