Setting Up Sales Tax Collection

#Overview

CMS Max integrates with TaxJar to automatically calculate the correct sales tax rate at checkout based on where the customer's order will be delivered and where your business has a tax obligation. Once you set up your tax locations, the system handles rate calculation automatically.

Note: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon do not have a state sales tax. Orders shipping to these states will never have tax applied, regardless of your settings.

For a complete guide to how tax is calculated and your TaxJar account options, see Sales Tax.

#Setting Up Tax Locations

A tax location (also called a nexus) represents a state where your business is required to collect sales tax — typically because you have a physical presence there, or because your sales volume in that state exceeds the state's economic nexus threshold. Each tax location requires you to specify the sales tax rate for that state.

#Adding or Editing a Tax Location

1. Navigate to eCommerce > Store Settings.
2. Scroll down to the Shipping Origin section (near the bottom of the page).
3. Under States you collect sales tax in, add or edit states:
   • To add: Click Add state, select the state, and enter the Tax Rate % (e.g., 8.5 for 8.5%)
   • To edit: Click the tax rate field next to a state and change it
   • To remove: Click the delete button on the state row

The tax rate is pre-filled with that state's average (from central records), but you can customize it. You must provide a rate for each state.

Repeat this process for every state where you are required to collect sales tax. If you are unsure which states apply to your business, consult a tax advisor.

Important: If a state is not in your list, customers checking out with a delivery address in that state will see $0 in tax. Make sure all required states are added with their rates filled in.

#Quick Start: Collect Tax in Your Store's State

The Use store address as tax origin checkbox is ON by default in the Shipping Origin section. When you save, your store's state is automatically added to your tax locations with the state-average rate. You can edit the rate afterward if you charge a different rate in your state.

#Automatic Tax Collection When You Exceed Economic Nexus Thresholds

If your sales to any state reach that state's economic-nexus threshold (e.g., $500k in California), CMS Max automatically enables tax collection for that state — the state is added to your Tax Locations and collection starts on the next order shipped there. No action is needed; collection starts automatically to keep you compliant with the law.

If you believe you do not have a tax obligation in a state that was auto-enabled, remove it from the Tax section of Store Settings. It will not be auto-enabled again, even if your sales stay above the threshold.

#Assigning Tax Codes to Products

Most products use TaxJar's standard taxable rate. However, some product categories are taxed differently — or are exempt — depending on the state. For example, clothing under a certain price threshold is exempt in New York, or groceries may be taxed at a reduced rate.

Assigning the correct tax code to a product ensures the right rate is applied regardless of which state the customer is in.

#Setting a Tax Code on a Product

1. Navigate to eCommerce > Products and open the product you want to edit.
2. Open the Tax tab and choose a Tax Setting:
   • Default Settings — use the store-wide default tax category. This is the default.
   • Custom Product Tax Category — choose the appropriate category from the list.
   • Tax Exempt — mark the product as not subject to sales tax. Exempt products are excluded entirely from TaxJar calculations and order records; they contribute $0 in tax and don't affect tax on the rest of the cart.
3. Click Save.

Leaving a product on Default Settings treats it as fully taxable, or uses your store-wide default tax category if you have set one.

#Bulk Updating Product Tax Settings

1. In eCommerce > Products, select the products you want to update and choose Bulk Edit.
2. Use the Columns picker to show the Tax Setting column for row-by-row edits, or use Apply Tax Settings to All to update every filtered product at once.
3. Save the spreadsheet changes, or confirm the bulk apply action.

#Generating Tax Reports

CMS Max provides a tax report tool that lets you see tax collected broken down by jurisdiction (state, county, city, special district) and date range. This is useful for filing sales tax returns, particularly in states that require county-level reporting.

#Running a Tax Report

1. Navigate to Reports > Tax Report in the admin menu.
2. Set your Date Range (defaults to the last 30 days).
3. The report displays a breakdown organized by jurisdiction for the selected period.

The report shows columns for:

• Jurisdiction (state, county, city, or special district)
• Tax Collected (total tax for that jurisdiction)
• Taxable Amount (the subtotal that tax was applied to)
• Tax Rate

Note: Summarized-rate orders only show state-level breakdowns. County, city, and special-district rows appear only for TaxJar-priced orders. If a jurisdiction appears as "Unclassified," the system was unable to retrieve the name — typically because the order's address was entered incorrectly at checkout.