Overview
Modern Retail's preferred method for handling sales tax for our lightspeed integrations is to configure a SKU to act as an additional line item representing the sales tax value. In this article, we'll talk about the upsides of this tactic, and why we prefer to do it this way.
Sales Tax and the Lightspeed Integration
An important thing to note about our Lightspeed integration is that the sales tax value for a given order must be exactly the same both in Lightspeed, and in your ecommerce platform. If the value is different, even by as much as a penny, then the order will get caught in limbo and go unfulfilled.
One way we deal with this problem is to set up an additional line item for your orders that automatically takes on the appropriate sales tax value, and then to mark orders as "non-taxable" so nobody gets double-charged. This SKU is fundamentally the same as any other product in your system, it just stores the sales tax value instead of being a typical product.
Additional Information
When using this method to handle sales tax, the tax must be calculated on your website, and it must be done in a simple percentage format (meaning only to two decimal places). This means the value is being calculated in the exact same way Lightspeed does it, avoiding any potential imbalance for order totals.
While there are other methods for handling sales tax, we've found this to be the most reliable. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact us with a support request.