Impossible solution for estimated taxes :(

[cigargod]

Hello all,

A problem i've been facing for a long time now is estimated taxes.

Sometimes, when ordering from my site, customers are shown a total price which includes estimated taxes. These taxes are only supposed to be applied for those in Massachusetts, however, customers in other states see this amount, and are swayed away from placing the order. (Although this amount is removed on the next page of check out once they enter their shipping address, a lot of customers disengage from the site once they see this amount before even getting to the next page)

I am using the simple version 9.1.2, and i haven't been able to find any solution to this issue at all. If you're able to help that would be GREATLY appreciated!

[Madmax3]

Hi , i ve been facing the same problem with taxes showing and disapearing when custommer enter their shipping adress, so couple custommer dont complete transaction. 

Let me know if you had find a way to resolve this.

Thanks !

[ReefChasers]

Yes this is super annoying. It assumes the customer is local and displays estimated tax rather than assuming the customer is not local (Because how often are they really local, anyways?). 

I agree this is very dumb and it's sort of infuriating that it works this way. It should assume the customer is not local first, then once the customer confirms the delivery address it should then show the estimated taxes. 

At the moment it shows the estimated taxes before the customer has confirmed the delivery address.. NO BUENO

[codyyymc]

This is very annoying. Same issue for me.

[fourwinnsj]

Have you found a solution for 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.

[cigargod]

Thanks for the reply! Question. Does changing the address in settings lead to changing the address when making labels to ship products out?

Thanks

[ZZZProjects]

I don't know this part @cigargod, since it doesn't affect me.

However, you only change the default location, which means you can still have your current location as well.

I don't know how making labels work, but I'm sure that if you have multiple locations, you can choose from which locations the label should be created.

If you test it, make sure to let people know the answer 😉

[ShopOwner3]

Unfortunately, ZZZProjects' work-around solution did not work for me.

I opened Ticket 37823249 with Shopify Support, but, although I initially received feedback that the way the estimated taxes were being shown seemed to be problematic, the follow-up responses indicated that this is just how it works as of now, and that my feedback has been shared to be considered by Shopify's developers (but they are unable to provide an update on the request). Below are portions of the responses I received:

Emma: "it seems you are correct in pointing out that the checkout system should not be estimating that tax for checkouts that are pre-populating any country or states other than [where you have a physical presence/nexus]"

Sarah: "what I've been able to confirm is that at the moment, the estimated taxes are expected to appear in that section, even if the pre-populated location added isn't in a state you're calculating taxes in"

Caroline.MA: "This was thoroughly investigated and found to be expected behaviour. Thank you for your continued patience while this was looked into. While there would be no workaround to prevent the estimated taxes showing, once the customer has entered their address and proceeded to the shipping section of the checkout, the taxes will then be calculated accurately. This feedback has been collected to be considered by our developers. While we would be unable to provide an update on these requests, they are incredibly valuable and reviewed in detail."