Order API taxes are not correctly reported

Shopify Apps

Topic summary

Incorrect tax reporting when submitting taxes via the Shopify Order API. Totals and tax displays are inconsistent across customer/admin emails and the admin order.

Observed issues:

  • Customer email shows $0.00 tax, but the order total includes the tax amount.
  • Admin email shows the correct tax amount, but the total does not include it.
  • Admin order flags an overpayment equal to the tax amount and suggests a refund.

What was tried:

  • Submitting taxes at the order level vs. only at the line item level (per-item tax vs. overall order tax).
  • Multiple test orders in a development store (≈10); the issue persists.

Suggestions provided:

  • Ensure tax settings are consistent across the store.
  • Choose one method of tax submission (order-level or line-item-level), not both.
  • Create new test orders to isolate behavior.
  • Clear any tax overrides or exemptions.
  • Contact Shopify Support for potential system-side issues.

Status: Unresolved. The poster plans to contact Shopify Support. No images/code provided.

Summarized with AI on December 17. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hello everyone and thank you for viewing my question.

When I submit the tax amount for an order, it has a few strange results:

  1. The email received by the customer incorrectly displays $0.00 paid in taxes, but the total does reflect the paid taxes.
  2. The email received by the admin correctly displays the $X.XX paid taxes, but the total doesn’t reflect the paid taxes.
  3. The admin order itself says the customer overpaid (by the paid tax amount) and needs to be refunded for this.

What am I doing wrong? I’ve tried submitting the taxes at the order level, and then I also tried submitting them only at the line item level.

2

Hi @SeanKerr :

Alvina from AdVision eCommerce, Here are a few possible solutions you can try:

  • Ensure tax settings are consistent: Double-check that the tax settings in your Shopify admin are consistent across the entire store, especially for order-level and line-item-level taxes.
  • Submit taxes uniformly: Stick to submitting the tax either at the order level or at the line item level, not both, to avoid conflicts.
  • Test with a different order: Try creating a new test order to see if the issue persists with taxes submitted one way or the other.
  • Clear tax overrides: Make sure there aren’t any tax overrides or exemptions set that could be causing discrepancies.
  • Contact Shopify support: If the issue continues, reaching out to Shopify support might help resolve any deeper system problems.

Thank you

3

Thank you, Alvina.

These are all test orders I’m submitting in a development store. I’ve submitted upwards towards 10 test orders, and tax reporting just isn’t working correctly. I appreciate your advice, I’ll reach out to Shopify’s support.