How to eliminate estimated tax popup for non-Massachusetts customers?

[cigargod]

Hello. Im trying to get rid of estimated tax for people that are using my website that are outside of Massachusetts but it seems to pop up and times and pop up at others. It seems impossible to solve this. Here is a thread for someone that had the exact same issue it seems like. I am losing customers who think they may need to pay a tax when in reality when they enter their shipping information, that tax goes away, however I am losing customers before they even attempt that step.

https://community.shopify.com/c/payments-shipping-and/checkout-state-autofill/td-p/579166

Please help!!!

[Dirk]

Hey, @cigargod 

Happy to help out. Would you care to explain a bit further what exactly you're customers are seeing on their end? Any screenshots would be helpful.

With that said, by the sounds of it you want to make it more apparent to non MA customers that there aren't taxes. One thing you could do is actually change the 'Estimated Taxes' label to something different. Such as "Estimated Taxes (MA only):" so customers are aware.

This can be done from your Admin > Online Store > Themes > Actions > Edit Languages. From there you can use the search bar to search for the estimated taxes fields and replace them to your liking.

If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know.

[cigargod]

Hello Dirk,

Thanks for that information. I was actually able to use your tip and I had successfully entered this instead of estimated taxes and it was working fine, however now it seems to have reverted back to taxes(estimated) even though the language says "*TAX DISCLAIMER: If you are shipping outside of Massachusetts, tax will be removed on next page.”

Here is a picture of what it looked like before.



Now it looks like this again. Any tips?

[cigargod]

In addition to my last message, i noticed at checkout where it says "information" at the top, it still says taxes (estimated) then when you move onto shipping, my disclaimer works. However, this is too late, I need it to say this at the information section. 

[Dirk]

Hey, @cigargod 

In your above reply, you mention you shared a photo but I'm not seeing it. Could you reshare that, please?

Also, if you head back into the 'edit languages' page and search "tax" in that field, you will see all of the various instances of that verbiage occurring throughout your store. From there, you can make the additional tweaks of replacing them to your liking. 

If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know.

[ReefChasers]

Is not the best solution really because the Total still shows the estimated tax and the sticker shock is still hitting a customer 90% of the time who will not be paying taxes. Why can't the system simply assume the customer is NOT from the state and adjust once the customer affirms their shipping address? 

It doesn't seem right to assume the customer will be in state on a national shopping platform.

[ReefChasers]

Also, although your suggestion helps somewhat it's still not great. There seems to be an 'estimated tax' label that is not in Languages if the customer is using Shop Pay. 

Also, aside from that, it just feels wrong to show big tax number and sticker shock a customer 90% of the time who is not going to have to pay taxes and is not from the state the store is based in.

[ReefChasers]

*BUMP* 

There seems to be an 'estimated tax' label that is not in Languages if the customer is using Shop Pay. 

[fourwinnsj]

Have you found a solution?

[bananaduck]

Bumping this! We're also facing this issue. Estimate tax is showing in places we don't charge tax and all the places we do charge tax have inaccurate estimates!

[codyyymc]

Yeah. We are from Ontario Canada (13% tax) we charge tax in 4 states as of now. But EVERY state is seeing 13% tax at the checkout screen..

I have lost many conversions from this.

[bananaduck]

Exact same scenario. We chatted with support and they escalated to a developer but doesn't sound promising!

[taxtaxtax]

There are many posts on this forum and elsewhere complaining about estimated taxes at Check Out. Invariably, a Shopify staff member says they will take the feedback on board and discuss it with the team that writes the code and the policies for checkout. So, after many years, what has Shopify done with this feedback? And what is it going to do to resolve the problem. If Shopify really thinks it has the best approach, please listen and understand that you do not. I use Shopify markets for two international markets I trade in. I am tax registered in both markets. However, ESTIMATED TAXES AT CHECKOUT, always defaults to the market where my store is based. This is so wrong on a "markets" approach. The checkout shouldn't be estimating taxes at all for a given market. As shipping is not required for software delivered electronically, Shopify shouldn't wait for the next page to confirm taxes. If, in a different scenario, one was to use markets to include GST/VAT in the product price, I am guessing it would not estimate taxes at checkout but would get the taxation amount correct by market? But that's not how people in my markets shop. If there is one reason, above any or all others, to leave Shopify for another platform, it would be this. So what is Shopify going to do to remedy this?

[taxtaxtax]

So, given I am using Shopify markets, I decided to run an experiment. I painstaking added in Tax Included into each product price, by shopify market. All good until you get to the checkout page. Now at checkout if I shop in say NZD$ the price comes up GST included at 15% which is great. And then I get to checkout and HOORAY, it no longer says "estimated taxes". But instead, what it does give me is the total price in NZD and shows taxes included as a dollar amount incorrectly at 10% (assuming I am in Australia and shopping in AUD when I am shopping in NZD) instead of the 15% GST which is the applicable tax rate in NZ and included in the price. What is wrong with Shopify??????? 

[SpecialtyToys]

It would be really helpful to have more control over this! We are a Canadian company that sells in Canada and the U.S., and so our American customers don't pay taxes. The tax line shows up sometimes for our US customers for no discernable reason, leading to confused calls from people asking why they're being charged taxes. No doubt, we're also losing sales from people who see the taxes and don't even bother to call! A customer this week called in confusion and told us "we don't even have sales tax in our state!"

We changed the text of the shipping line to say "Taxes (CANADA ONLY)", but it's still confusing that it even shows up.

[codyyymc]

Did you find a fix for this?

Same issue for me... I am from Canada and pay 13% tax and only have to charge 5 states tax. It is scaring everyone away showing a 13% tax on the contact information screen.

Very annoying.

[inktopress]

I contacted support about it. I am setting up a store for a customer and the numbers aren’t adding up upon checkout. I provided example of the overcharge on tax despite parameters per the state, borough/county and city.

- I created a manual category

- added all my products to that category
- enabled Charge tax on all products

- added that category to tax override to affect customers in the stores in Alaska @ 3% - in accordance to the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in which the city (Takeetna) is located, but is charging closer to 9.1%.

Why is it not adhering to the parameters I have set and over charging on tax?

Does this error have something to do with Shopify Tax product they are forcing merchants to opt-in without consent? Because of the complexities of jurisdictions in varying states, the store owner should maintain the right and legal responsibility to local jurisdictions (bake it into the terms of Shopify Agreement) to collect specific tax rates and have it be accurate.

I would appricate a response!

Thank you,

Matt

[jslym777]

I would also just like to disable the ESTIMATED TAX lines before checkout. This doesn't make any sense to show an estimated tax to someone that doesn't pay taxes.

[codyyymc]

Agreed. We pay 13% Tax here in Ontario, Canada, and it is showing 13% tax
to states in the USA. I don't charge tax too before they even enter their
address....

Of course, it updates after they proceed to the shipment page, but ALOT are
leaving the checkout screen and even emailing complaining that they will
pay 13% tax..

[jslym777]

Have you found a solution? I need to hide this estimated line as well

[VikGrabo]

Need a solution as well - it's something we'd love to remove since 95% of customer base isn't charged taxes; I imagine it's the same for many, many businesses and the text pre-loaded by Shopify by default isn't even accurate to their own checkout or customer order flow(The final tax and total will be confirmed by email or text after you place your order). No, final tax will be confirmed WHILE ordering after entering the shipping address...

[Alitech]

I have seen a couple of websites who have managed to do this successfully. 

why cant we find a solution for this?

[shadi1]

I wonder if those website were shopify plus. I think shopify plus have more access to checkout customization and can do that. I can't afford $2000 a month for plus. So i will have to wait until someone complains to Tobias and then something is done about this.

[ZZZProjects]

CAUSE:

The current default estimated tax is based on your store's default location, which is a big issue if you sell internationally and only have local tax.

(Shopify still had this problem on 2023-03-15)

SOLUTION:

Create a Virtual Postal Mailbox Address anywhere you have a 0% tax:

• Go to Settings => Locations => Add location
  • Add the location newly created from
• Go to Settings => Locations => Change default location
  
  • Modify the default location to the one just added

NOTE:

This solution might not be for everyone. We sell software on our side, so it did not cause any issues.

---

Multiple companies are offering virtual mailboxes. On our side we chose “AnyTime MailBox” and created our address in Silicon Valley because we are a tech company, so why not!

PS: Sorry if you see this answer spammed in a few topics. Since many people have this problem and those topics do not have any solution, I am sure some people will appreciate it.

[VikGrabo]

You still have to charge tax for software you license to people in your state/country; I don't know how this would be a solution

[ZZZProjects]

My country's taxes are still applied correctly.

The problem is not that the tax is not working. The problem is my country's estimated tax are shown to people outside of my country by default until they press the “continue to payment” button.

When 95% of your customers do not have to pay taxes, you don’t want to show them a 15% tax by default.

[timd_mackey]

Interesting solution, I might try this with our store and see if it works. It sounds like you’re in a similar situation to us, we’re located in Canada but 90% or more of our orders go to the US where we don’t charge taxes. 

[Daniel_Piech]

Shopify team: This problem is terribly and urgently in need of solving!!!

Many customers are dropping out of the checkout process because this "estimated tax" line  item (which shows before they've even put in their shipping address!) INCORRECTLY makes them think they're going to be charged more tax than they will.

This is a red-flag problem because it's very directly contributing to lost potential customers for thousands of stores!

[Alitech]

100% agree  with Daniel-Peich. Clearly there are hundred of people trying to solve this conundrum. Should really be a quick fix for the technical team at Shopify. 

SHOPIFY, PULL YOUR FINGER OUT!

[bananaduck]

We've been dealing with this for months and there's no end in sight. So we did what was suggested in a previous reply. We ship from Canada, so we set up an anytime mailbox in Montana. Fulfillment is still set up to ship from our manufacturer here though. Seems to be working for us.

[Aleksander2]

Shopify really need to address this issue. Have anyone found a solution for Shopify not to estimate a tax in the early checkout phase without setting up a mailbox abroad?