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How Sales Taxes Work in ServiceBox - User Guide

Understand how sales taxes and tax levels function in ServiceBox, including overrides and accounting settings.

Summary

In ServiceBox, sales tax refers to the tax applied to taxable line items on invoices. The platform allows users to create individual Sales Taxes and Tax Levels. Sales taxes represent individual rates, while tax levels are combinations of these rates. Tax levels define different combinations of taxes (or no tax) that can be applied to individual items in a quote or invoice. Setting a tax level as Default ensures it is applied automatically when items are added to quotes or invoices through the back-end settings.

Sales Tax

Sales tax in ServiceBox is applied to taxable line items on invoices. You can create individual sales taxes and group them into tax levels for more flexible application.

Quote Item Creation

When creating a quote item, you can assign a specific tax level to that item—or leave it blank. Leaving the tax blank marks the item as non-taxable.

Customer and Jobsite Overrides

Within customer or jobsite profiles, you can set an override tax. This sets the default tax level for any item added to a quote or invoice, regardless of what is set for the item in its settings.

Important Exception: If an item is saved in settings with no tax selected, the override tax will not apply. To allow an item to respect overrides while still being non-taxable by default, create a "No Tax" tax level that contains no sales taxes. This setup allows override taxes to take effect when needed.

Override taxes are applied in the following order:

  1. Jobsite level

  2. Customer level

Rounding Taxes and Accounting

At the bottom of the Tax Levels tab in Settings, there is a checkbox that controls how taxes are calculated:

  • If checked, taxes are applied per line item and then totaled.

  • If unchecked, the subtotal of taxable amounts is calculated first, and then the tax is applied to that total.

Example:
With a 5% tax rate on lines of $20, $30, and $40:

  • If checked: 5% is applied to each line → $1 + $1.50 + $2 = $4.50

  • If unchecked: subtotal is $90, 5% is applied to total → $4.50

While the total may match in some cases, rounding differences can occur depending on line amounts.

By understanding and correctly setting up tax levels, overrides, and rounding preferences, you can ensure accurate tax calculations throughout your ServiceBox account.

Need Help?

If you have any questions or need support, please click the Help button in your ServiceBox account or email us at support@getservicebox.com.