Tax registrations

Settings → Tax → Registrations is where you keep a record of the places your store is registered to collect tax: your VAT number in the EU or Israel, your GST/HST number in Canada, a provincial PST or QST number, or a US state sales tax permit. It sits in the Tax Center, as the Registrations tab.

Brainerce does not register you with the tax authority and does not file returns. A registration here is a note you keep for yourself. It does not register you anywhere, it does not check your number with any authority, and it does not change how tax is calculated at checkout. Tax is still charged from the rates you entered, whatever is or is not listed under Registrations.

Record your VAT or GST number

1. Go to Settings → Tax and open the Registrations tab.
2. Press Add registration.
3. Pick the Country. If the tax applies to one state or province only (QST in Quebec, PST in British Columbia, a US state permit), also pick the State or province. Leave it on Whole country for VAT or federal GST.
4. Choose the Tax type: VAT, GST, HST, PST, QST, Sales tax or Other.
5. Type your Registration number. It must be 3 to 40 characters: letters, digits, spaces and the characters . / - _ *.
6. Optionally set Valid from and Valid until (the end date must be after the start date), and a Status: Active, Pending (applied for, not yet issued) or Inactive.
7. Optionally add Notes, up to 500 characters. Notes are shown in full, so never put the registration number there.
8. Press Save.

The table lists Country, Tax type, Number (masked), Valid (the dates, or "No dates"), Status and Actions (edit and delete). With nothing recorded it says "No registrations recorded"; you can leave it empty if you are not registered anywhere.

You can record one registration for each combination of country, province and tax type. Adding the same combination again is refused: edit the existing one instead.

Where is my tax number shown?

Your number is stored encrypted and shown only as the last 4 characters, like ••••0001. After you save, no screen, export, API or assistant shows the full number again, not even to you. This is on purpose, so a stolen login or a screenshot of the page cannot reveal it. Keep your number in your own records too.

• To change the number, open the registration, type the new number into Registration number and save.
• To keep the number, leave Registration number empty when you edit something else (the dates or the status, for example). The stored number stays exactly as it was.
• Staff members who can view store settings see the table with the masked numbers. Only people who can manage store settings can add, edit or delete a registration.
• Registration numbers are left out of Brainerce's logs. The Notes field is shown in full, so never type the registration number into it.

Dates, status and expiry reminders

Valid until is the last day the registration is valid, through the end of that day. When an Active registration ends within 30 days, the Tax Center's What to check list shows "Your (tax type) registration in (country) ends soon". After the date passes, the row shows Expired and What to check shows "Your (tax type) registration in (country) has expired".

Brainerce does not renew a registration for you and does not know when your authority renews it. Update the dates here yourself once it is renewed, or set the status to Inactive if you are no longer registered.

A registration never changes what customers are charged, and a missing one never stops a sale. The Tax Center only compares your records with your rates, in two places in What to check:

• "Tax is charged in (countries), but no registration is recorded there" appears when you charge tax in a country where Registrations holds nothing, and only if you have recorded at least one registration. It is a question about your own records, not a statement that you must register.
• "Registered in (countries), but no tax rate is set there" appears when you have an Active registration in a country with no rate in force. Add a rate, or mark the country Not collected if that is on purpose.

Whether you must register somewhere is for you and your accountant to decide. Brainerce does not work it out from where you ship or which rates you have: shipping to every province of Canada does not mean you are registered for every provincial PST.

Delete a registration

Press the bin icon on the row and confirm. This removes your record only. It does not cancel your registration with the tax authority; do that with the authority itself.

Ask the AI assistant

The assistant can read your registrations, masked. Ask "Where am I registered for tax?" and it lists the country, tax type, status, dates and the last characters of each number. The assistant cannot add or change a registration, and you should never type a tax number into the chat. It will send you to Settings → Tax → Registrations instead. If nothing is recorded, it tells you so and asks you, rather than guessing from where you ship.

Questions about tax registrations? Email [email protected].