This article covers everything related to tax in Blackpurl for Canadian dealerships — including how tax integrates with your accounting package, how to configure tax settings, how to run tax reports, and how to manage tax on Customer Orders. If you are ever unsure about your tax setup, contact Blackpurl Support and they can walk you through your specific situation.

How Tax Works with Your Accounting Package

Both QuickBooks Online and Xero do not allow third parties like Blackpurl to integrate directly with their built-in Tax General Ledgers or tax defaults. Because of this, your dealership was set up at Activation with dedicated BP Tax Collected and BP Tax Paid General Ledgers in your accounting package, which are then mapped in Blackpurl.

When a Customer Order invoice or a Vendor Invoice with tax integrates from Blackpurl into Xero or QuickBooks Online, the tax appears as a line item pointing to the relevant BP Tax Collected or BP Tax Paid General Ledger — not to the accounting package's native tax accounts.

This means:

Run your tax reports from Blackpurl, not from Xero or QuickBooks Online.
When remitting tax to the relevant government authority, allocate the payment to the BP Tax Collected or BP Tax Paid General Ledgers in your accounting package.

Accessing Tax Settings

All tax settings for your dealership are found by navigating to the Blackpurl header and selecting Admin > Tax Activity.

To access this section, users must have the Tax Management user permission enabled on their account.

For information on managing user permissions, see User Permissions in Blackpurl Reference.

Tax Activity & Settings

The Tax Activity & Settings section is reached by going to Admin > Tax Activity in the Blackpurl header. Once there, you will see four tabs: ACTIVITY, SETTINGS, TAX CODES, and MANUAL TAX RATES.

Each tab is covered separately below.

A. Activity

The Activity tab is where you run the Tax Activity report (also known as the Tax Detail Report). Enter a From and To date range, then click the button to run the report.

By default, the report automatically excludes Internal Invoices. If you want to include Internal Invoices, uncheck the Exclude Internal Invoices? checkbox and run the report again.

Tax Activity report results showing two main sections: 'Tax Collected on Sales' and 'Tax Paid on Purchases'. Each sectio

The Tax Activity report summarises two sections:

Tax Collected on Sales — lists the total tax collected on sales along with a breakdown of each individual sales tax that makes up that total.
Tax Paid on Purchases — lists the total tax paid on purchases along with a breakdown of each individual purchase tax that makes up that total.

Your taxes will be specific to your own dealership. The following fields appear in each section of the report:

Tax Collected on Sales

Tax Name	Lists the totals of all Tax Collected on Sales, along with each individual sales tax name that makes up that total.
Transaction Count	The number of transactions that make up this tax.
Taxable Amount	The taxable amount that this tax was calculated on.
Tax Amount	The tax amount that was calculated.
Non Taxable Amount	Any non-taxable amount included in the transactions.
TOTAL: Tax Collected on Sales	The total of all your sales taxes combined.

Each individual sales tax is listed separately below the total. If your dealership has multiple sales taxes, each one appears on its own line with its own transaction count, taxable amount, tax amount, and non-taxable amount.

Tax Paid on Purchases

Tax Name	Lists the totals of all Tax Paid on Purchases, along with each individual purchase tax name that makes up that total.
Transaction Count	The number of transactions that make up this tax.
Taxable Amount	The taxable amount that this tax was calculated on.
Tax Amount	The tax amount that was calculated.
Non Taxable Amount	Any non-taxable amount included in the transactions.
TOTAL: Tax Paid on Purchases	The total of all your purchase taxes combined.

Each individual purchase tax is listed separately below the total. If your dealership has multiple purchase taxes, each one appears on its own line with its own transaction count, taxable amount, tax amount, and non-taxable amount.

At any point you can use the Print or Export buttons to print or export both the summary and the underlying transactions that make up the report.

To drill into the transactions that make up a specific sales or purchase tax, click on the Tax Name in the report. Blackpurl will display a detailed list of all transactions for that tax, which you can view on screen, print, or export.

Back navigation arrow and detailed transaction drill-down view showing 'Tax Collected on Sales: bp gst collected' with t

To return to the main Activity report results, use the back navigation arrow.

B. Settings

The Settings tab is broken into the following areas:

General Settings
Account Types / Tax Exemptions
Automatic Tax Rate Controls
Accrued Tax Controls
Default Applicable Tax Codes

General Settings

Tax ID on documents	If your government requires your Tax ID to appear on Customer Order documentation (such as invoices), enter the dealership's Tax ID number here.
Prices include sales tax	Indicates whether prices in Blackpurl include sales tax. Canadian dealerships are not required to include sales tax in displayed prices, so this will typically show No.
Trade tax credit cannot exceed unit tax	When a trade-in is taken 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 further information.
Unit options that are taxed like the unit	Select which unit options are taxed at the same rate as the unit sale. Click the field to see available options and make your selections.
Group Individual taxes on sales	If your dealership has multiple sales taxes (such as PST and GST) but wants them to appear as a single grouped line (for example, "Sales Tax") on customer-facing documents, enable this toggle. Once enabled, you can set the name to display for the grouped tax. If this toggle is off, each sales tax will appear as a separate line on the Customer Order document.
Group Individual taxes on purchases	If your dealership has multiple purchase taxes but wants them to appear grouped (for example, as "Purchase Tax"), enable this toggle and set the display name. If this toggle is off, each purchase tax will appear separately.

Account Types / Tax Exemptions

The Account Types / Tax Exemptions section lists the account types and tax exemptions currently configured in your Blackpurl. A starter set is created during Activation in consultation with your Activation team, but you can amend or add more as needed.

For a full guide 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

The Accrue input tax until units are sold (NITC) setting is only applicable for specific locations such as Australia. If your dealership requires this setup, contact Blackpurl Support.

Default Applicable Tax Codes

The Default Applicable Tax Codes section shows the default tax codes set for your Blackpurl. These are usually configured during Activation.

New selling tax rate dialog box with labeled fields A through H: A. Tax name (text field), B. Category dropdown showing

If you need to change a default, click into the relevant field and select from the available options in the dropdown. If you are unsure what a default controls or what the impact of changing it would be, contact Blackpurl Support before making changes.

D. Manual Tax Rates

Manual Tax Rates are covered before Tax Codes because understanding rates is necessary to understand how Tax Codes work.

This section is divided into two types:

Sales transaction manual tax rates — tax rates that apply only to sale transactions, such as Part Sales, Unit Deals, and Service Jobs.
Purchase transaction manual tax rates — tax rates that apply only to purchase transactions, such as Vendor Invoices for parts and units.

Tax rates are the individual percentage components used to calculate tax. They are the building blocks that Tax Codes combine together. Your tax rates are usually set up during Activation, but you may need to add new ones over time.

To create a new tax rate, click Add new tax rate. The New selling tax rate window will open.

A. Tax Name	Enter the name for this new tax rate.
B. Category	Assign the tax rate a category for accounting integration purposes.
C. Type	Choose one of three types: Fixed — the tax rate is a set percentage across the board (for example, 10% on all amounts). Escalating — the rate increases as the taxable amount increases (for example, 10% on the first $5,000 and 12% on the next $5,000). Tiered — the rate changes based on the total transactional amount (for example, 7% normally, but 7.5% once the order exceeds $3,000).
D. Rate	Enter the percentage for this rate. The format depends on the Type selected in C.
E. Forms label	The label that will print on customer invoices and other documents for this tax.
F. Minimum tax	Applies when the Type is Escalating or Tiered. Enter the minimum tax amount if one applies.
G. Maximum tax	Applies when the Type is Escalating or Tiered. Enter the maximum tax amount that can be charged if one applies.
H. SAVE	Click SAVE to save the new tax rate.

To edit an existing tax rate, click the pencil icon on the relevant line. The tax rate will open for you to make changes.

To delete a tax rate, click the delete icon on the relevant line. You will be asked to confirm the deletion.

Once your tax rates are set up, you can combine them into Tax Codes — see the next section.

C. Tax Codes

Tax Codes allow you to join two or more tax rates together to make up the full tax applicable for a transaction. For example, if a customer's location requires a State Tax of 5% and a GST of 8%, you would create both as individual tax rates and then use a Tax Code to combine them — ensuring the correct total tax is calculated and charged.

Tax Codes are split into two types:

Tax Codes for sales transactions — apply only to sale transactions such as Part Sales and Unit Deals.
Tax Codes for purchase transactions — apply only to purchase transactions such as Vendor Invoices.

Your Tax Codes are usually set up during Activation, but you may need to create new ones over time.

To create a new Tax Code, click Add new tax code. A New selling Tax Code or New Purchase Tax Code window will open.

A. Tax Code name	Enter the name for this new Tax Code.
B. Active	Use the toggle to indicate whether this Tax Code is active and available for selection in Blackpurl.
C. Default	Use the toggle to indicate whether this Tax Code should be the default.
D. Applicable manual rates	Add the manual tax rates that should be included in this Tax Code.
E. Assign rates	Assign the rates to the Tax Code as required.
F. Save	Click Save when you have finished the setup.

To delete a Tax Code, click the delete icon on the relevant line. You will be asked to confirm the deletion.

To review or edit a Tax Code, click on the relevant Tax Code name to open it.

Tax on Customer Orders

Customer Orders in Blackpurl include tax controls in the Unit Deal, Parts & Accessories, and Service Job sections. Each section automatically loads the default tax settings when added to a Customer Order, but you have options to view the tax breakdown and override the defaults when needed.

Unit Deal Section

Each time you add a unit to the Unit Deal section, the default tax setting loads automatically. The Unit Deal Summary section displays the total Sales Tax attached to the entire Unit Deal — note that a single Unit Deal may contain multiple units being purchased.

Unit details section for 'BRP CAN-AM ATV OUTLANDER MAX XT 700 2024, Neo Yellow' showing unit pricing and tax settings. C

To see a breakdown of the taxes that make up the total, click the blue info icon next to the Sales Tax line. The Sales Tax Details popup will show the breakdown by individual tax.

Parts & Accessories summary section showing 'Sales taxes' at '$22.15' with blue info icon highlighted with red box. Cont

Under each individual unit's section within the Unit Deal, you have options to change how tax is calculated:

To apply a different applicable tax, click the Applicable tax dropdown (field A) and select the relevant tax.
To exclude specific unit options from being taxed the same way as the unit, click on section B and untick the items that should not be taxed at the unit rate.

Override tax section showing enabled toggle, 'Applicable tax' dropdown set to 'BC Sales Tax', and 'Use this tax for thes

Parts & Accessories Section

Each time you add a Parts & Accessories section, the default taxes load automatically. The Parts & Accessories Summary section displays the total Sales Tax attached to that section.

Service Job summary section showing 'Sales taxes' at '$19.13' with blue info icon highlighted with red box. Contains 'Ov

To see the breakdown of what taxes make up the total, click the blue info icon next to the Sales Tax line. The Sales Tax Details popup will show each individual tax and its amount.

Service job override tax section showing enabled toggle, 'Applicable tax' dropdown set to 'BC Sales Tax'.

To override the default taxes for this section, enable the Override how taxes are calculated? toggle and select the applicable tax.

Service job item type selection showing 'Use this tax for these items' section with yellow highlighted options: 'All ite

After enabling the override, select which Item Types you want the selected tax to apply to.

Service Job Section

Each time you add a Service Job section, the default taxes load automatically. The Service Job Summary section displays the total Sales Tax attached to all Service Jobs on the Customer Order.