So, when we sell in person, we sell tax exempt- but I need to collect tax on online sales, so I can’t just “turn it off”. What this means is, each in person POS sale, during checkout, we total the cart then turn off tax, then collect payment.
The issue is with Automatic Discounts. When we use a “buy two get x off” type rule, Shopify will not allow tax to be turned off. Conversely, if I just turn tax off for the entire product (not ideal because then it isn’t collecting for online sales)… it won’t activate the automatic discount.
Most of the time, sales tax is based on nexus rules, not whether the sale is in-person or online. The automatic discount issue is probably secondary here. The bigger question is whether you actually have nexus and should be collecting tax in the first place.
@skapaleather Hi! This is a known limitation in Shopify, automatic discounts and manual tax overrides don’t play nicely together at the POS checkout level.
Here are a few workarounds that other merchants use:
Use a Discount Code instead of an Automatic Discount for in person sales. Discount codes allow you to still manually toggle tax off at POS, whereas automatic discounts lock certain checkout fields. It’s a small extra step at the register but gives you full control.
Create a separate POS only product or price list. Some merchants duplicate products specifically for in person use with tax already excluded from the price, keeping online listings untouched.
Use a Draft Order for in person tax exempt sales. Draft orders give you more flexibility, you can apply discounts and set tax to exempt before taking payment.
None of these are perfect, but option 1 (discount codes for POS) is probably the least disruptive to your current flow. Hopefully Shopify addresses this conflict natively soon, you’re definitely not alone in running into it!
@skapaleather Yes, exactly! You can absolutely run both at the same time, they’re completely independent of each other.
Your automatic discount stays active for your online store and will apply automatically at checkout there. Then separately, you just set up a discount code with the same deal (buy two get X off) specifically for your in person POS sales.
So your workflow would basically be:
Online> automatic discount fires, tax collects as normal
In person> apply the discount code at POS, then toggle tax off before payment
A little extra step at the register, but it gives you full control over both channels without anything interfering with the other. You’re not choosing one or the other, you’re just using the right tool for each situation!
How long ago was that account created, and it’s already silenced for ai content lol. You are welcome to listen to those copy/paste ai responses that you could have gotten yourself with Google, Chatgpt, or Sidekick.
Or you can do it right. Like I said. It’s about local tax rules and having nexus in whatever area you’re selling in. Why in the world would you have to turn off tax for a pos sale and then turn it back on for online. That is the most ridiculous advice I’ve ever heard. You are free to so it if you want, but that is not needed at all.
I have a perfectly good reason to turn tax on and off.
When I am selling in person I do not want to deal with change, we deal with whole dollars only. I factor shipping costs into my products- so in person sales I don’t collect tax and put the shipping towards the tax that I still pay as the end of the year.
When I take an order online, I take tax.
I understand that this might not work for you, but it works for us and how we run our business. We pay our taxes, we just collect it in an easier way to make in person sales faster and easier.
Use a Draft Order instead. Create the sale as a draft order in POS — draft orders allow tax exemption AND manual discounts applied together. More steps but gives you full control.
Discount Codes instead of Automatic Discounts. Replace your “buy two get X off” automatic discount with a discount code that does the same thing. Discount codes don’t trigger the same checkout lock, and you can still toggle tax off. Staff just enters the code manually.
Tag your in-person customers (or create a generic “In Store Customer” profile) as tax exempt. Assign it at the start of each POS transaction. This handles tax without needing to toggle it manually each time — and doesn’t conflict with automatic discounts.
Also worth submitting to Shopify feedback directly — tax exempt POS + automatic discounts should absolutely work together, and enough merchant complaints can push it up the priority list.