Sales Tax

#Overview

CMS Max uses TaxJar to calculate sales tax at checkout. You tell the system which states you collect tax in (your tax locations or nexus), optionally override the tax category for specific products, and customers see the correct tax as they check out. The actual rates come from TaxJar in real time, so you don't maintain rate tables.

Five US states don't charge sales tax at all (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon). Orders shipping to those states never have tax applied.

#How Tax Is Calculated

Sales tax is based on the delivery address, not the billing address. The law follows where the goods end up.

For each fulfillment method:

Tax is only applied if the destination state is in your Tax Locations. If a customer in a state you don't have nexus for checks out, their tax is $0.

#Coupons and tax

When a customer applies a coupon at checkout:

• Fixed-amount and percentage coupons reduce the taxable subtotal. Customers pay tax on the discounted amount.
• Free-shipping coupons only reduce the shipping cost. Item tax is unchanged, but tax on shipping (in states where shipping is taxable) becomes $0.

#Configuring Tax Locations and Rates

Every state where you have a physical or economic nexus needs a tax location entry with a sales tax rate.

1. Navigate to eCommerce > Store Settings.
2. Scroll down to the Shipping Origin section (at the bottom of the page).
3. Under States you collect sales tax in, add each state where you have a sales tax obligation. For each state:
   • Click Add state to add a new row
   • Select the state from the dropdown
   • Enter the Tax Rate % (e.g., 7.25 for 7.25%)
   • The rate is pre-filled with your state's average but is fully editable
4. Click Save.

Important: Forgetting to add a tax location means no tax is collected for that state. Customers there see $0 tax and your store accrues an uncollected liability. Tax is ONLY collected in the states you select here. The tax rate per state must be filled in (required field).

#Quick Start: Use 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 Tax Locations with the state-average rate, so customers in your state immediately see tax applied. You can edit the rate afterward if needed.

#Automatic Economic-Nexus Collection

If your sales grow and cross a state's economic-nexus threshold (e.g., $500k in California), the system automatically enables tax collection for that state — it's added to your Tax Locations and collection starts on the next order shipped there.

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.

Thresholds are set by law and update automatically — you don't configure them. When your sales exceed a state's threshold, tax collection starts automatically to keep you compliant.

#Pickup Location

If your store offers In-Store Pickup or Curbside Pickup, customers who choose those methods are taxed at your store location. The address on the Store settings page determines the tax rate — not the customer's delivery address.

Note: Pickup orders still need the store's state in your Tax Locations list in order to collect tax. For example, if your store is in California, make sure California is in your "States you collect sales tax in" list.

If you have multiple stores, make sure the primary store address is correct.

#Product Tax Codes

Most items are fully taxable and use TaxJar's default rate. Some categories are taxed differently by state — groceries might be exempt, clothing might have a threshold in New York, SaaS might be untaxed in some states. TaxJar provides tax categories with standardized codes for these cases.

#Set a default

The default product tax code applies to every product that doesn't have its own override.

1. Navigate to Settings > Plugins > TaxJar > Settings.
2. Under Default Product Tax Category, search and select the category that best describes the majority of your catalog.
3. Click Save and Install.

Leave the default blank to treat everything as fully taxable (TaxJar's general category).

#Override per product

1. Navigate to eCommerce > Products, then open a product.
2. Click the Tax tab.
3. Choose a Tax Setting:
   • Default Settings — use the store-wide default product tax category (above). This is the default.
   • Custom Product Tax Category — assign a specific TaxJar category from the list.
   • Tax Exempt — mark the product as not subject to sales tax. Exempt products are excluded from TaxJar entirely: they don't contribute to the taxable amount, they don't appear in TaxJar's order records, and they don't affect tax on the rest of the cart. A cart of only exempt products collects $0 tax and skips the TaxJar API call altogether.
4. Click Save.

#Bulk update product tax settings

Use eCommerce > Products to select products, then choose Bulk Edit. From there you can either:

• Show the Tax Setting column for per-product edits.
• Use Apply Tax Settings to All to apply one tax setting across the current filtered result set.

#Reports

Navigate to Reports > Tax Report to see a breakdown of tax collected by jurisdiction (state, county, city, and special districts) over a date range. The default view shows the last 30 days.

You can also open any completed order in the admin to see its per-jurisdiction tax breakdown on the order detail page (state, county, city, special district).

Note: Summarized-rate orders only record state-level breakdown. County, city, and special-district rows appear only for TaxJar-priced orders.

#TaxJar Account Types

CMS Max ships with TaxJar access built in. By default, your store uses the shared CMS Max TaxJar account (the free tier) — no setup needed, limited to 100 orders/month across the TaxJar API.

If your volume exceeds that (or you want your own TaxJar account for AutoFile or reporting), switch to your own key:

1. Navigate to Settings > Plugins > TaxJar > Settings.
2. Change Account type to a paid/own-account option.
3. Paste your TaxJar API Key.
4. Click Save and Install.

See the TaxJar plugin guide for the full difference between free and own accounts, and for AutoFile.

#FAQ

#Why is tax showing as $0 for some customers?

Likely causes: (a) their state isn't in your "States you collect sales tax in" list in Store Settings; (b) they're in a non-taxing state (AK, DE, MT, NH, OR); (c) the product has a tax-exempt tax code. Check the order's tax breakdown on the admin order page.

#Why does tax change when a customer picks a different shipping method?

Tax is based on the delivery address and shipping cost. If a shipping method uses a different destination (e.g. pickup at the store) or changes the shipping total, tax recomputes. Some states tax shipping; some don't.

#What happens if TaxJar's API is down?

The system falls back to a per-state rate stored in CMS Max. Customers still see tax; rates are state-level averages so they may be slightly off from the exact city/county rate. We recover automatically once TaxJar responds.

#How are coupon discounts reflected in tax?

Fixed and percentage coupons reduce the taxable subtotal — customers pay tax on the post-discount amount. Free-shipping coupons reduce shipping only; item tax is unchanged. See How Tax Is Calculated.

#Can I see what TaxJar returned for a specific order?

Yes — open the order in the admin and look at the Tax Breakdown section. It shows state, county, city, and special district amounts separately.