Chapter 8 & 9

1. Chapter 8 & 9 Weighting Unit and Taxes

2. Weighting Unit • the unit of measure for weight • is applied globally throughout the store • The default weighting unit in Zen Cart is the pound (lb)

3. Changing the Weighting Unit • is not a trivial task • Two tasks to be perform: 1. Search for source files that have weighting unit information contained in them 2. Apply the changes to these files.

4. Taxes

5. Sales Tax • A tax imposed by the government at the point of sale on retail goods and services. • It is collected by the retailer and passed on to the state • can be applied to shipping as well as to goods and/or services in Zen Cart

6. Understanding How Taxes are Configured • Zone, Zone Definition, Tax Class, and Tax Rate are used to calculate the tax charged on goods or services sold in Zen Cart • Zone Definitions and Zones are used to identify the geographical regions where a tax rate should apply. • Tax Class allows different products to be separated into different groups so that each group can be taxed at a • different rate.

7. Understanding How Taxes are Configured cont’d • Tax Rate defines the percentage of a product's retail price or shipping charges that should be collected as sales tax. • It ties together the information you have defined for a Zone Definition and a Tax Class to trigger the collection of a sales tax.

8. Basis for Tax Calculation • sales tax is collected can be based on: • A customer’s shipping address • The store address • A customer’s billing address • To specify the basis for sales tax calculation: • Click on Configuration > My Store • Set the following fields to either Shipping, Billing or Store. • Basis of Product Tax • Basis of Shipping Tax

9. Display of Tax Information • The following settings in Configuration > My Store might affect whether you get to see tax calculations being displayed and how these tax calculations are derived • Tax Decimal Places • Display Prices with Tax • Display Prices with Tax in Admin • Sales Tax Display Status

10. Adding a Tax Class • A tax class allows you to classify your goods into a specific category so that tax rates can be applied. • To add a tax class: • Click on Locations/Taxes > Tax Classes • Click on new tax class • Enter your desired values for the Tax Class Title and Description fields. • Click insert to save your changes into the database.

11. Adding a Tax Rate • A tax rate specifies a percentage of a product's sales price to be added as tax. • To add a tax rate: • Click on Locations/Taxes > Tax Rates • Click on new tax rate • Choose the tax class which you want to apply a tax rate to by selecting from the Tax Class Title field. • Choose a zone definition to which the tax rate should apply from the Zone field.

12. Adding a Tax Rate (cont’d) • Specify the tax rate you want to charge in the Tax Rate (%) field. • Specify a meaningful description for the Description field. • Specify how you want different tax rates to apply by entering a number into the Priority field. • Specify how you want different tax rates to apply by entering a number into the Priority field.

13. Compounding or Adding Different Tax Rates • In some cases, different tax rates need to be applied to a product. • The final tax rate that applies for the product will depend on whether these tax rates are compounded or added. • Zen Cart allows you to perform the compounding or addition of tax rates by way of the Priority field.

14. Impact of Customer Zone Information • Zen Cart needs the State/Province information in order to determine which Zone a customer is located in so that it can decide whether the customer is liable for sales tax. • If zone information is not collected during customer registration, setting the tax basis to Store is the only way to assess taxes. • To make sure that customers specify a state or province when they sign up for an account: • Click on Configuration > Customer Details to access the Customer Details screen. • Make sure the State field is set to true.