Is there a special tax that is included when calculating sales tax in california

[thelullabylane]

Hi, 

I had a question about how sales tax is calculated for California. I did a test and it looks like the sales tax is more than what it should be. This is going to Concord, CA and the tax is 9.75%. It should be $5.07 but is $5.33. Just checking to see if there is something I am not accounting for? Or if I have something wrong in the settings. 

See the below screenshot for reference. 

[Helen]

Hi, @thelullabylane! Thanks for reaching out. Taxes certainly can be confusing.

I highly recommend contacting a tax professional to ensure you are collecting the correct taxes for your region and business type. But we can try to troubleshoot this together to ensure you are collecting taxes correctly according to your Shopify Tax Settings.

That being said, the first question I have for you is: what region are you located in?

[thelullabylane]

Hi Helen, 

Thank you for replying. I have reached out to a tax professional and they were the ones that brought it up when I checked with them. 

I am located in the US and my business is based out of Concord, CA which is in Contra Costa County. I only do online sales and do not sell in person or have a POS. 

[Helen]

Thanks for that information, @thelullabylane.

I did some testing on my own store to see the tax breakdown for a customer based in Concord California. What I’ve found, is that the current default tax rates that Shopify uses for Concord California amount to a total of 10.25%, and are broken down as seen below:

Because California uses a mixed tax rate based both on the destination and origin of a purchase, these rates will vary based on where your customer is located (See the Help Doc on US tax references - California for more information about this). You can view the tax rates from each order that you receive by going to the order in your admin and clicking on ‘Show tax rates’ in the payment section of the order, as seen here:

Therefore, the calculation of taxes for this order is correct according to the parameters of this order. However, if your tax professional has advised that you only need to be collecting 9.75% sales tax, then it is possible to create a tax override for your products and/or collections. The steps to do this are found in the Help Doc Override taxes.

Hope this helps! If you have any other questions, please let me know. 

[thelullabylane · Accepted solution]

Thanks, so much Helen.

[Helen]

My pleasure! Let me know if I can help with anything else.