Taxes

Brainerce works out tax from rates you define, based on the customer's address. You manage everything under Settings → Tax.

There are two decisions to make:

1. Inclusive or exclusive pricing. Are your displayed prices tax-included (VAT style) or is tax added on top (US sales-tax style)?
2. Which rates to collect, and where, for example 18% VAT in Israel (the rate since January 2025), or a state sales-tax rate in the US. Israel, Canada and the United States have a one-click country preset (the US one adds the state rates only, see below); see Set up Israeli VAT in one click. The Israel preset does not turn on inclusive pricing for you and does not handle Eilat.

Every rate belongs to a country. If a customer's country has no rate, no tax is collected on their order (unless you chose to refuse such orders, see Tax Center): there is no worldwide or fallback rate. Tax is worked out after discounts, so a coupon or automatic discount lowers the amount tax is charged on. A gift card is a payment, not a discount, so it does not.

Tax rates are entered manually. There's no automatic tax service to connect, Brainerce does not update a rate when a jurisdiction changes it, it does not register you for VAT, GST or HST anywhere, and it does not file your returns.

US sales tax for all states at once (state base rates only)

The US preset adds the state sales tax for 45 states and Washington DC in one step, at the rates in force on July 1, 2026. It is one review and one approval, not fifty separate rates.

What it does not do, so check this before you rely on it:

• No county, city or district taxes. In most US places the full rate a shopper pays is the state rate plus local taxes. With the preset alone, shoppers there are charged less than the full rate.
• It covers every state. You should collect tax only in the states where your store is registered. After applying the preset, turn off or delete the states where you are not registered.
• No product exemptions. Groceries, clothing and other goods that some states tax differently are charged the same state rate.
• Five states have no state sales tax (Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon) and get no rate.
• Brainerce does not register you for sales tax and does not file your returns.

You can also ask the AI assistant: "set up US sales tax for all states". It prepares the same preset as one review you approve.

Two taxes on the same sale (Canada GST plus PST, RST or QST)

Where two taxes apply to one purchase, add them as two rates and mark both Charge together with other rates. Canada is the case merchants hit: GST 5% country-wide, plus PST in British Columbia and Saskatchewan, RST in Manitoba, or QST in Quebec. Those four provinces need two rates each. The customer sees a line for each. The five HST provinces (Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island) need a single combined rate instead, with the toggle left off, because HST already contains the federal part. Use a country preset on the Tax page creates all ten Canadian rates in one click. Do not enter a single blended rate like 14.975%: it collects the right total but shows one tax line.

Both rates must have the same Tax Class, or only one of them is charged. The Tax Class dropdown lists Standard (all products) first and then any class you created, and a class you happened to name "Standard" is not the same thing as Standard (all products). Two rates split across those never combine, even though both still show the Stacked badge on the Tax page. When they are split, the other rate is ignored rather than added, so a Quebec order can show QST alone with no GST beside it. Put every rate you want charged together on the same Tax Class. The country preset puts all ten Canadian rates on Standard (all products) for you. Full detail in Only one of my two taxes is charged.

Both taxes are worked out on the pre-tax amount. Brainerce never charges one tax on top of another, and there is no compound-tax setting.

The delivery charge is taxed too by default, but only by the rates whose Tax Class is Standard (all products). Rates you put on a class of your own never tax delivery, so if every rate you have sits in your own class the delivery charge is not taxed. The Tax page shows a Delivery charges are not being taxed warning when that happens. To exempt postage on a shipping rate deliberately, set its Tax Status to No Tax under Shipping → Zones & Rates. See Is VAT charged on the delivery charge?.

In this section

• Tax Center to check whether your tax is set up, see which countries customers pay no tax in, mark countries where you don't collect tax, and test what a customer will pay.
• Review tax changes to see what customers would pay before a tax change goes live, approve it yourself, and apply it all at once. A plan expires after 30 minutes, and Brainerce never changes your rates behind your back.
• Tax classes and products to give reduced-rate or zero-rate products their own tax class, see which products still have none chosen, and understand exempt products.
• Tax registrations to record your VAT, GST or sales tax number for each place you are registered. The number is stored encrypted and shown only as its last 4 characters, and Brainerce does not register you or file returns.
• Set up taxes to turn on tax collection, choose your pricing model, and add rates.

Questions about tax setup? Email [email protected].