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Tax-Inclusive as a way to sidestep thousands of lines of code?

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Posted

So, I'm having a panic attack here based on what I just learned about Squarespace requiring you to find and then manually input every zip code in America and its relative tax %!!! That's insanity, and the time it would take me to do that would eat up my income from design jobs entirely. 

I'm wondering if option for the "Tax Inclusive" options means that thousands of lines of code are able to be skipped? According to SS help, "With tax-inclusive pricing, customers pay a product's listed price at checkout, instead of paying the listed price plus sales tax. The portion of the total that goes toward sales tax depends on the customer's location and is calculated at checkout."

Am I reading that correctly? it looks like they're saying that Squarespace will determine the "portion of the total that goes towards sales tax" - AKA . . TAX? based on the customer's location --- not MINE. Which is how the regular taxation should work to begin with. This almost seems TOO easy? So much so that I wonder if it's just bad writing and misrepresenting the actual functionality. If SS can calculate tax based on CUSTOMER'S location and simply subtract that from the total ... why would I not opt for that over an insane amount of manual labor? 

Also, what happens when one zip code somewhere in the US changes their rates? I can't ask clients to keep track of the entirety of America's tax tables on a monthly basis for the rest of their lives once the website is handed off to them .. there has to be a better way. 

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Posted

I am echoing what @mattchait has said here. We have been convincing our client to stay on Squarespace this entire project vs jumping ship and going to Shopify and this may be the final straw. Having to enter in THOUSANDS of zipcodes and tax rates is insanity. 

Posted
On 9/1/2020 at 8:00 AM, studiolinear said:

I am echoing what @mattchait has said here. We have been convincing our client to stay on Squarespace this entire project vs jumping ship and going to Shopify and this may be the final straw. Having to enter in THOUSANDS of zipcodes and tax rates is insanity. 

and cross-reference and update ... monthly.

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Posted

Same here, I literally created this forum account to just let everyone know - there is no way you can run a legal business on Squarespace. Why? Sales tax is not automated. It is simply not possible for anyone to enter in 2500+ zip codes for their home state (even more states if you have more than one nexus) . To make matters worse most zip codes have multiple tax rates. I saw someone recommend charging the highest rate your state has which is a terrible idea. Both undercharging and overcharging can get you in trouble with your state sales tax agency even if you refund the difference afterwards. It even opens you up to a class action lawsuit from your own customers! My advice? Head over to Shopify. Long gone are the days where their builder was complicated and hard to use. It’s almost as easy as Squarespace now, and both sales tax and shipping rates are automated for even cheaper than Squarespace’s e-commerce plan. The worst part about this whole situation is people have been asking Squarespace for this for years and they completely ignore the request and even claim that they have never heard about this request. BS!!! Also TaxJar & Avalara do not edit your sales tax rates for your checkout. All they do is file your sales tax return for you

Posted

Hi there. Did you end up deciding to move off Squarespace or did you find some kind of solution? I just moved states (and rebuilt my entire site in SS in time to launch for holiday season) and am panicking now that sales tax here is significantly more complex than my old state (a flat 9.25%). Just trying to figure out what to do and if there's any possible way to make the site work, even if temporarily so I don't miss out on my biggest chunk of revenue for the year. 

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