I have begun my year end bookkeeping and after printing out all the monthly invoices I can see for only Sept and Oct I am being charged a “tax transaction fee”. Its only a few dollars but what is it? I use Taxjar not Shopify Tax. I tried chatting with an advisor and even they couldnt explain it to me, One invoice says Tax Transaction Fee (6 items) two and a half bucks and the other says Tax Transaction Fee (23 items) nine bucks. I do not use any third party payment processing either. Can anyone explain to me what these fees are for? I process a couple hundred sales each month so what is this special fee for just a few orders and why?
Topic summary
Unexpected “Tax Transaction Fee” charges appear on Sept/Oct invoices (e.g., $2.50 for 6 items; $9.00 for 23 items) despite using TaxJar and not third‑party payment processors.
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Community input: A merchant suggests these are Shopify Tax calculation fees. Their understanding: a 0.35% fee applies after the first $100,000 in sales, charged on orders where Shopify calculates sales tax (details referenced in Shopify Help Center’s billing/Shopify Tax section).
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Staff clarification: The fee is related to Shopify Tax and may occur if Shopify Tax is enabled even when using TaxJar. To verify: Settings > Taxes and duties > United States > Manage (under Current tax service). A help doc link and support contact were provided for billing review.
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Key concept: Shopify Tax is Shopify’s built‑in tax calculation service; enabling it can trigger per‑transaction tax calculation fees.
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Status and next steps: Not fully resolved. The merchant should confirm which tax service is active, review which orders used Shopify’s tax calculations, and contact Shopify Support via the Help Center for invoice‑specific clarification.
Is it the 0.35% tax calculation fee that Shopify implemented last year (I think it was last year)? If I understand it correctly, they don’t charge this fee on your first $100,000 in sales, but after $100,000 in sales, you get charged a 0.35% fee on orders that they collect sales tax on (maybe not in person sales, but I am not sure of that). I remember then sending out an email about this added fee because sales tax can be so confusing in the states (having to track down to the city/county in many states).
Scroll down to the “Shopify Tax” section of this page from the Shopify Help Center → https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/your-account/manage-billing/your-invoice/charges
Hi, @AimHighShop !
Thanks for reaching out, I’m happy to share some more information.
The Tax Transaction Fee is related to Shopify Tax. From what you’re describing, it sounds like you may have Shopify Tax enabled on your store, even if you’re using TaxJar to manage and file your taxes. You can verify this by navigating to Settings > Taxes and duties > United States > Manage in the Current tax service section. You can find more information in this help document.
If you have further questions about your Shopify bill, feel free to get back in touch with us through the Help Center and we’d be happy to look over things with you.
Please let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with!