This article covers how tax works in Blackpurl for Australian and New Zealand dealerships. Because both countries use a single flat tax rate, the setup is straightforward — and once configured, taxes flow automatically from Blackpurl into your accounting package (Xero or QuickBooks Online).
How Tax Works in Blackpurl
Australian and New Zealand tax is simple by design: both countries apply a single tax rate across sales and purchases. Xero and QuickBooks Online both allow third parties like Blackpurl to map directly to the tax General Ledgers they maintain. This means that once something is sold or purchased in Blackpurl, the relevant taxes are automatically calculated and pushed through to your accounting package.
All tax reportability to your taxation authority is handled through your accounting package — not directly from Blackpurl.
During your Blackpurl activation, your Activation Specialist will have set up your Sales Tax and Purchase Tax rates, and configured the Tax Code Mapping under System Settings > Accounting Integration - Tax Code Mapping. This mapping is what allows Blackpurl to connect directly to the tax General Ledgers in Xero or QuickBooks Online.
Accessing Tax Settings
All tax settings for your dealership are found by navigating to Admin > Tax Activity in the Blackpurl header. To access this section, users must have the Tax Management user permission assigned to their account.
Tax Activity & Settings
The Tax Activity & Settings screen contains four tabs: Activity, Settings, Tax Codes, and Manual Tax Rates. Each tab is covered in detail below.
A. Activity
The Activity tab is where you can review tax reporting within Blackpurl. While all official tax reporting to your taxation authority is handled through your accounting package, this tab lets you run supplementary reports when needed.
Enter a From date and a To date, then click Create Report. The report breaks down the taxes used and the totals for the selected date range.
B. Settings
The Settings tab shows everything currently configured in your Blackpurl. Most of these settings are established during the activation process. The tab is divided into several areas.
General Settings
Tax Id on documents | If your government requires your Tax ID to appear on Customer Order documentation (such as invoices), enter your dealership's Tax ID here. Australian dealerships use this field for their ABN. |
Prices include sales tax | For Australian and New Zealand dealerships this is always enabled and set to Yes. |
Trade tax credit cannot exceed unit tax | When taking a trade-in on a Unit Deal, the trade-in tax credit cannot exceed the amount of unit tax payable. See Trade In Tax Credit cannot exceed Unit Tax (no longer available) for more information. |
Unit options that are taxed like the unit | Allows you to select which unit options are taxed at the same rate as the unit sale. Click the field to see available options. This setting is generally not used by Australian and New Zealand dealerships as they have only one tax rate. |
Group Individual Taxes on Sales | Generally not used by Australian and New Zealand dealerships. When disabled, all sales taxes on Customer Orders are listed separately on customer documentation. When enabled, sales taxes are grouped into a single line item — you can choose the label for the grouped amount (for example, "Sales Tax"). Applies to invoices and other customer-facing documents. |
Group Individual Taxes on Purchases | Generally not used by Australian and New Zealand dealerships. When disabled, all taxes on Vendor Invoices are listed separately. When enabled, taxes are grouped into a single line item — you can choose the label for the grouped amount. |
Account Type / Tax Exemptions
This section lists the Account Types and tax exemptions currently configured in your Blackpurl. A starter set is provided at activation in consultation with your Activation Specialist, but you can add or amend entries at any time.
For full details on Account Types and how to create new ones, see Setting up Account Types (includes the control of tax exemptions) (no longer available).
Accrued Tax Controls
This section covers the Accrued input tax until units are sold (NITC) setting, which applies to Australian dealerships. These settings are configured at activation with your Activation Specialist, depending on whether your dealership adheres to Notional Input Tax Credit (NITC) rules.
For more information about NITC, refer to these articles:
Notional Input Tax Credits (NITC) in Blackpurl (Australia Only) (no longer available)
Default Applicable Tax Codes
This section shows the default Tax Codes configured in your Blackpurl. These are also set up during activation. To change a default, click into the relevant field and select from the available options in the dropdown.
If you are unsure what changes are needed or what the impact of changing these defaults will be, contact Blackpurl Support before making any adjustments.
D. Manual Tax Rates
Manual Tax Rates are covered before Tax Codes because understanding rates first makes the Tax Codes section easier to follow.
For Australian and New Zealand dealerships, this section is straightforward — both countries operate on a single flat tax rate. Your tax rates are set up during discussions with your Activation team.
C. Tax Codes
Tax Codes allow you to combine two or more tax rates to form the total tax applicable to a transaction. For Australian and New Zealand dealerships, this section requires minimal configuration — because both countries have a single tax rate, there is no need to join multiple rates together.
Customer Orders and Vendor Invoices
Once all tax settings are configured, the correct tax rates load automatically every time you create a Customer Order (including Unit Deals, Parts & Accessories orders, and Service Jobs) or process a Vendor Invoice (for Parts, Sublets, or Units).
When an invoice is issued from a Customer Order, the full invoice including taxes integrates into your accounting package.
When a Vendor Invoice is finalised, the full invoice including taxes integrates into your accounting package.
All reportability to your taxation authority is handled through your accounting package.