Use TaxCloud on my Store
Shift4Shop's integration with Tax Cloud tax allows you to have real-time tax calculations on your customer orders with rates coming directly from your Tax Cloud account. This guide will help you set up your Tax Cloud integration.
A better solution for the handling of discounts would be Avalara which does accept discounts as a separate attribute.
What you will need
To set up your Shift4Shop/TaxCloud integration, you will need the following information, which can be generated directly from your TaxCloud Merchant Interface.
A TaxCloud account (see above)
Your TaxCloud API ID
Your TaxCloud API Key
Default TIC
Your TIC will depend on the type of products you are selling and taxing. TaxCloud will provide this information as it is selected in the interface.
The final piece of information you will need is a USPS UserID. TaxCloud utilizes the United States Post Office database to verify addresses before processing the tax transaction. Therefore this information will be needed to continue your integration.
If you do not already have a USPS UserID, you may click here to create one.
Setting up your TaxCloud Integration
To begin inputting your Tax Cloud settings, follow these steps:
Log into your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager.
Use the left navigation menu and go to Settings > Payments.
Once there, click on the Setup Tax button underneath Tax Manager.
You will now see a section labeled "Enable real-time tax calculation," where you can enable TaxCloud and specify your TaxCloud account settings.
Once you have completed the configurations, click on the button marked Save Changes located at the top right.
Taxability Information Code (TIC)
With TaxCloud, you have the option of specifying taxability information codes (TIC) either for your entire store or for individual products. The TIC numbers will be generated for you directly from the TaxCloud user interface depending on the items you specify tax for.
As mentioned, you have the option of specifying TIC information either globally on your entire store or individually on a per-product basis.
Default (Store-wide) TIC code
To enable a TIC number on your entire store, simply add the TIC to the default field of the Tax Manager settings described above.
Product Specific TIC codes
In some cases you may need to specify tax codes for individual products. For example, some states will require a certain tax be collected on certain types of products (i.e. Food items are charged a different rate than general goods)
In these cases, you can also specify TIC codes for individual products by placing them in the product's "Extra Field 1" section.
Go to Products > Product List.
Find the product that you'd like to edit and click on its name (You can also look to the far right of the item and click on its Action > Edit button).
While viewing the product's "Information" tab, scroll down to the "Extra Fields" section and add the product-specific TIC to extra field 1.
Example:
TIC:12345
Shopper's Experience
Your shoppers will see the real-time tax calculated for them at the final checkout step:
Troubleshooting
In order to troubleshoot any possible issues that might arise, it would benefit you to know how the order is treated after placement.
After an order is placed, the TaxCloud system will authorize the transaction. When the order is moved to the "new" status, the TaxCloud system will capture the transaction. Both authorization and capture tasks will occur in case the order is paid with a payment method that automatically places it in the "New" status of your Shift4Shop store.
If there are any errors during the authorization/capture requests, the Shift4Shop system will show an error message inside the Internal Comments section of the Order Details page.
If/when necessary, the requests can be resubmitted to TaxCloud by clicking on the order's Actions button at the top right of the order page and clicking the Resubmit TaxCloud link.