Overview

This article covers everything related to sales tax and purchase tax for USA dealerships using Blackpurl — from initial setup and configuration through to running tax reports and controlling tax calculations on Customer Orders.

If you are unsure about any tax settings at any time, please contact Blackpurl Support and they can go through any tax concerns you have.

How Tax Works with Your Accounting Package

Both QuickBooks Online and Xero do not allow third parties like Blackpurl to integrate directly to any of their Tax General Ledgers or Tax defaults. Because of this, at Activation, your Dealership would have been setup with new 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.

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 located under Admin > Tax Activity in the Blackpurl Header.

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
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 Create Report button to generate the report.

By default, the report excludes internal invoices. To include internal invoices, uncheck the Exclude Internal Invoices? checkbox and run the report again.

The Tax Activity report summarises two sections:

Tax Collected on Sales — lists the total tax collected on sales as well as list the relevant tax names that make up that section.
Tax Paid on Purchases — lists the total tax paid on purchases as well as list the relevant tax names that make up that section.

Our example below is for our training environment that will show you how things list — remember that your taxes will be specific to your own Dealership.

We ran the Tax Activity report for the period 1st April 2024 to 30th April 2024 (excluding Internal Invoices) and the search results are as follows:

We will go over the search results shown in the image above using the tables below.

Tax Collected on Sales

1. Tax Name	Lists the totals of all Tax Collected on Sales, along with each individual sales tax name that makes up that total.
2. Transaction Count	The number of transactions that make up this tax.
3. Taxable Amount	The taxable amount that makes up this tax.
4. Tax Amount	The tax amount that was calculated.
5. Non Taxable Amount	Any non-taxable amount included in the transactions.
6. TOTAL: Tax Collected on Sales	The total of all your sales taxes combined.
7.	This will list the total tax amount that has been calculated for all your Sales Taxes.
8.	It will list each of your Sales Taxes and in this example, this dealership only has one Tax Collected on Sales i.e. 'bp gst collected'. If you have multiple Sales Taxes then it will list all of them individually.
9.	The total transactions that make up this Sales Tax.
10.	The total taxable amount for this Sales Tax.
11.	The total tax amount taken for this Sales Tax.
12.	If there are any non-taxable taxes taken for this Sales Tax.

Tax Paid on Purchases

13. Tax Name	Lists the totals of all Tax Paid on Purchases, along with each individual purchase tax name that makes up that total.
14. Transaction Count	The number of transactions that make up this tax.
15. Taxable Amount	The taxable amount that makes up this tax.
16. Tax Amount	The tax amount that was calculated.
17. Non Taxable Amount	Any non-taxable amount included in the transactions.
18. TOTAL: Tax Paid on Purchases	The total of all your purchase taxes combined.
19.	This will list the total tax amount that has been calculated for all your Purchase Taxes.
20.	It will list each of your Purchase Taxes and in this example, this dealership only has one Tax Paid on Purchases i.e. 'gst payable'. If you have multiple Purchase Taxes then it will list all of them individually.
21.	The total transactions that make up this Purchase Tax.
22.	The total taxable amount for this Purchase Tax.
23.	The total tax amount taken for this Purchase Tax.
24.	If there is any non-taxable taxes taken for this Purchase Tax.

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, depending on what screen you are on.

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.

To return to the main Activity report results, use the back navigation arrow as shown in the image below:

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

Dropdown menu showing unit option types that can be taxed like the unit: All option type, Fees, Labor, Other products, P

Each option of the General Settings in the image above is broken down in the table below:

25. 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.
26. Prices include sales tax	Indicates whether prices in Blackpurl include sales tax. For USA dealerships, this is typically set to No as US dealers are not required to include sales tax in the displayed price.
27. Trade tax credit cannot exceed unit tax	If this toggle is turned on, 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 for further information.
28. 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.
29. Group Individual taxes on sales	When disabled, all sales taxes on Customer Orders will list separately on customer documentation such as invoices. When enabled, all sales taxes are grouped as one line item and you can choose what to call the grouped amount (for example, "Sales Tax").
30. Group Individual taxes on purchases	When disabled, all taxes on Vendor Invoices will list separately. When enabled, all purchase taxes are grouped as one line item and you can choose what to call the grouped taxes (for examples, "Purchase Tax").

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 Account Types Explained.

Automatic Tax Rate Controls

31. State Tax / County Tax / City Tax / District Tax	It will list out these taxes so that you can control the Tax Category (32.) you want to use and the Forms Label (33.) you want to use on documentation.
32. Tax Category	For each of the State Tax/County Tax/City Tax/District Tax you have the option of what Tax Category you want to use. This is usually discussed and set up at Activations.
33. Forms Label	The name given to each tax as it appears on printed documentation. This is usually discussed and set up at Activations.
34. Current Default Tax Rates	Your default taxes are based on where you Dealership is located so this will just list the relevant taxes.
35. Check for updates	Blackpurl uses a Third Party Tax Specialist to make sure that your tax rates are kept up to date and that the correct tax rates are being used. If you feel like the taxes are not right OR you know that a change has been made but is not reflected in Blackpurl, simply click on the Check for Updates button and it will go and review to see if any rates have changed. Keep in mind that Blackpurl will also automatically check for updates on a regular basis.
36. States which you collect & remit sales taxes for	This is where it will list which states that your Dealership collects and remits sales taxes for. If the state is not listed in this section, when a user processing a Customer Order, the user will not be allowed to turn the toggle on to "Tax based on the customer address" as the customer does not reside in a state that the Dealership collects and remits sales sale for. Instead the default Dealership taxes will be charged. If you want to add additional states that your Dealership collects and remits sales taxes for, then click on the drop down arrow and find the state from the list. Once you click on the state name, it will be added to the list of States which you collected & remit sales taxes for.
37. For deals, auto enable Tax based on customer address	This will allow the Dealership to have the default on a Customer Order > Unit Deal to be Tax based on customer address so each time a new Unit Deal is created, the toggle will automatically be enabled. Keep in mind that if the user is selling to a Customer that does not reside in one of the states which the Dealerships collected & remit sales taxes for (as per list in 36.), then the tax will automatically default back to the Dealership's default taxes and the toggle will remain not enabled.

Accrued Tax Controls

The Accrue input tax until units are sold (NITC) setting is only applicable for certain locations such as Australia.

If your dealership requires this configuration, please 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.

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, please contact Blackpurl Support before making changes.

D. Manual Tax Rates

We are going to cover Manual Tax Rates first before we cover Tax Codes, as it helps to explain the Tax Codes.

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.

What are tax rates?

For our USA dealerships, taxes can be complex — some USA states having numerous tax rates that may need to be combined together as a Tax Code. Tax rates are usually configured during Activation, but you may need to create new ones over time.

To create a new tax rate, click Add new tax rate. The New selling tax rate window will open with the following fields:

A. Tax Name	Type in the name for this new tax rate.
B. Category	Allocate a category to the new tax rate for accounting integration purposes.
C. Type	Choose one of three types: Fixed — the tax rate is a set rate across the board (for example, 10% on all amounts). Escalating — the tax rate increases as the taxable amount increases (for example, 10% on the first $5,000 and 12% on the next $5,000, etc.). Tiered — the tax 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 Tax Type selected in section C. Type.
E. Forms label	The label that will print on customer invoices and other documents for this tax.
F. Minimum tax	Applies when the Tax Type is Escalating or Tiered. Enter the minimum tax amount if one applies.
G. Maximum tax	Applies when the Tax Type is Escalating or Tiered. Enter the maximum tax amount that can be charged if one applies.
H. SAVE	Click SAVE when you have completed the new tax rate.

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

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

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

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 (using the steps in section D. Manual Tax Rates) and then use a Tax Code to combine them — ensuring the correct total tax is calculated and charged to the customer.

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 that should look like the below image:

The New selling Tax Code window contains the following fields:

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. Automatic Rates	Enable or disable the toggle for each tax type as required. You can also set a Maximum Taxable Amount if applicable.
E. Applicable manual rates	The manual tax rates that should be included in this Tax Code that are assigned in section F.
F. Assign rates	Assign rates to the Tax Code as required.
G. Save	Click Save when you have finished configuring the Tax Code.

To delete a Tax Code, click the delete (trash) icon on the relevant line item and confirm the deletion.

To review or edit a Tax Code, click the edit (pencil) icon on the relevant Tax Code line item.

Tax Options on Customer Orders

There are sections in a Customer Order - Unit Deals/Parts & Accessories/Service Jobs that will give you what tax options are available to you - i.e. Calculate taxes based on Customer Billing Address or Shipping Address.

We will go over each section below.

Unit Deal Section

The Unit Deal section automatically loads with the default tax setting each time you add a new unit.

You can leave the default tax as-is, it is usually based on the Dealership's address, and you can view the default in the Tax Activity & Settings sections. However there are other taxation options available, i.e. calculating taxes based on a Customer's Billing Address or Shipping Address.

Summary-Level Tax Options

Tax options set in the Unit Deal Summary section apply as the default for all units, options and fees sold on that Unit Deal. Anything added under options & fees (like labor, parts, sublets, and fees), the taxes will follow the settings here. The following options are available in the Summary section:

Shows a Unit Deal Summary section with a purple header displaying 'UNIT DEAL' with status badges 'Status: In Progress' a

1. Sales Taxes

Lists any sales tax attached to the whole Unit Deal. A single Unit Deal may include multiple units. To see a breakdown of the taxes, click the Sales Tax Details icon.

2. Calculate taxes based on

Billing Address — If you need to charge tax that is based on the billing address of the Customer, then please enable this toggle.

Blackpurl will then "look" at the billing address indicated on the Customer Record and then calculate the tax based on that address.

You will need to ensure that the FULL billing address is indicated on the Customer Record so that the applicable tax is charged.

You can also set this as default to always use the billing address - see item 37. under B. Settings > Automatic Tax Rate Controls within this article.

If you try to enable the Calculate taxes based on Billing Address action and sell to a Customer not in a state where the Dealership collects and remits sales tax for, you will receive an error message - You don't collect/remit sales taxes for the state indicated on the customer address.

Shipping Address — This option is only available when a shipping address has been added to the Customer Order or Customer Record. Enable this toggle to calculate tax based on the shipping address of the Customer. The FULL shipping address must be recorded.

If you enable this toggle for a customer in a state where the dealership does not collect and remit sales tax, you will receive the error: You don't collect/remit sales taxes for the state indicated on the customer address. The Unit Deal will then default to the dealership's standard tax.

Important: The Calculate Taxes Based on Shipping or Billing Address option is only available in the USA.

Unit-Level Tax Options

Each individual unit sold on a Unit Deal also has its own tax options. These settings let you override or refine tax calculation at the unit level.

Shows the same unit details section with tax calculation options. Red annotations show '3.' pointing to disabled address

3. Calculate taxes based on customer	*Billing Address* — If you need to charge tax that is based on the billing address of the Customer, then please enable this toggle. Blackpurl will then "look" at the billing address indicated on the Customer Record and then calculate the tax based on that address. You will need to ensure that the FULL billing address is indicated on the Customer Record so that the applicable tax is charged. You can also set this as default to always use the billing address - see item 37. under B. Settings > *Automatic Tax Rate Controls* within this article. If you try to enable the Calculate taxes based on Billing Address action and sell to a Customer not in a state where the Dealership collects and remits sales tax for, you will receive an error message - You don't collect/remit sales taxes for the state indicated on the customer address. *Shipping Address* — This option is only available when a shipping address has been added to the Customer Order or Customer Record. Enable this toggle to calculate tax based on the shipping address of the Customer. The FULL shipping address must be recorded. If you enable this toggle for a customer in a state where the dealership does not collect and remit sales tax, you will receive the error: You don't collect/remit sales taxes for the state indicated on the customer address. The Unit Deal will then default to the dealership's standard tax. Important: The Calculate Taxes Based on Shipping or Billing Address option is only available in the USA.
4. Special Tax	If a special tax needs to apply, ensure the taxable toggle is enabled and then select the relevant special tax.
5. Tax these options the same way	The dealership can choose to tax any unit options either the same way as the Unit Deal or leave them to be taxed locally based on the dealership's setup.

Common Tax Scenarios — Unit Deals

The following scenarios illustrate how to configure tax settings for common situations on a Unit Deal.

Scenario 1 — Customer is buying this unit from the Dealership/Dealership default tax is to be charged/no special taxes/all options are to be taxed the same as the default settings. This is what those settings would look like:

Similar view to previous image but with an expanded dropdown showing option types. The dropdown displays checkboxes for:

Scenario 2 — Customer is buying this unit from the Dealership/default tax is to be charged/a special tax is required/all options are to be taxed as per the Dealership's default. This is what those settings would look like:

Shows the tax calculation section with the Billing Address toggle enabled (green toggle switch). Red text annotation say

Scenario 3 — Customer is buying this unit from the Dealership/default tax is to be charged/a special tax is required/all options are to be taxed the same way (not locally). This is what those settings would look like:

Shows the Billing Address toggle enabled and Shipping Address toggle disabled. Red text annotations indicate 'Enable the

Scenario 4 — Customer is buying the unit from the Dealership/tax is based on the customer's billing address/no special taxes/options are to be taxed at the local rate. This is what those settings would look like:

Shows a different scenario view at the bottom of a deal screen with a red-boxed error message at top: 'You don't collect

Scenario 5 — Customer is buying the unit from the Dealership/tax is based on the customer's billing address/no special taxes/options to be taxed at the same rate as the unit. This is what those settings would look like:

Shows another scenario with Shipping Address toggle enabled (green) while Billing Address toggle is disabled. Red text a

Scenario 6 — Customer is buying the unit from the Dealership/ the customer lives in a state where the dealership does not collect and remit sales tax.

If you try to enable the billing address tax toggle in this situation, you will receive the error message: You don't collect/remit sales taxes for the state indicated on the customer address. The Unit Deal will then automatically revert to the dealership's default tax.

For a list of the states that the Dealership collects and remits sales taxes - see item 36. under B. Settings > Automatic Tax Rate Controls within this article.

Scenario 7 — Customer is buying the unit from the Dealership/tax is based on the shipping address/no special taxes/options are to be taxed at the local rate. This is what those settings would look like:

Shows a Parts & Accessories screen with orange header displaying 'PARTS & ACCESSORIES' and 'Parts: All In-Stock' with to

Scenario 8 — Customer is buying the unit from the Dealership/tax is based on the shipping address/no special taxes/options to be taxed at the same rate as the unit. This is what those settings would look like:

Shows the 'Override how taxes are calculated?' toggle enabled with green color. Below it shows an 'Applicable tax' dropd

If you have a different scenario that you need a hand with the settings, please contact Blackpurl Support for assistance.

Parts & Accessories Section

The Parts & Accessories section will load with the dealership's default taxes. The summary section provides additional tax options that let you override how taxes are calculated for parts and accessories (like fees) on the Customer Order under the Parts & Accessories tab.

Shows the same override section but with an expanded dropdown displaying 'Complete Tax' as the selected option. Below sh

6. Calculate taxes based on customer	*Billing Address* — If you need to charge tax that is based on the billing address of the Customer, then please enable this toggle. Blackpurl will then "look" at the billing address indicated on the Customer Record and then calculate the tax based on that address. You will need to ensure that the FULL billing address is indicated on the Customer Record so that the applicable tax is charged. You can also set this as default to always use the billing address - see item 37. under B. Settings > *Automatic Tax Rate Controls* within this article. If you try to enable the Calculate taxes based on Billing Address action and sell to a Customer not in a state where the Dealership collects and remits sales tax for, you will receive an error message - You don't collect/remit sales taxes for the state indicated on the customer address. *Shipping Address* — This option is only available when a shipping address has been added to the Customer Order or Customer Record. Enable this toggle to calculate tax based on the shipping address of the Customer. The FULL shipping address must be recorded. If you enable this toggle for a customer in a state where the dealership does not collect and remit sales tax, you will receive the error: You don't collect/remit sales taxes for the state indicated on the customer address. The Unit Deal will then default to the dealership's standard tax. Important: The Calculate Taxes Based on Shipping or Billing Address option is only available in the USA.
7. Override how taxes are calculated?	If the Dealership needs to override the default taxes with a special tax, enable this toggle and then select the relevant tax from the dropdown. After selecting the tax, choose which Item Types the override should apply to.
8. Sales Tax Details	Lists any sales tax attached to the Parts & Accessories section. To see a breakdown of the taxes, click the Sales Tax Details icon.

Service Job Section

The Service Job section loads with the dealership's default taxes. The summary section provides additional tax options that let you override how taxes are calculated for the service job, parts, labor, fees, and sublet line items on the Customer Order under the Service Job tab.

9. Calculate taxes based on customer	*Billing Address* — If you need to charge tax that is based on the billing address of the Customer, then please enable this toggle. Blackpurl will then "look" at the billing address indicated on the Customer Record and then calculate the tax based on that address. You will need to ensure that the FULL billing address is indicated on the Customer Record so that the applicable tax is charged. You can also set this as default to always use the billing address - see item 37. under B. Settings > *Automatic Tax Rate Controls* within this article. If you try to enable the Calculate taxes based on Billing Address action and sell to a Customer not in a state where the Dealership collects and remits sales tax for, you will receive an error message - You don't collect/remit sales taxes for the state indicated on the customer address. *Shipping Address* — This option is only available when a shipping address has been added to the Customer Order or Customer Record. Enable this toggle to calculate tax based on the shipping address of the Customer. The FULL shipping address must be recorded. If you enable this toggle for a customer in a state where the dealership does not collect and remit sales tax, you will receive the error: You don't collect/remit sales taxes for the state indicated on the customer address. The Unit Deal will then default to the dealership's standard tax. Important: The Calculate Taxes Based on Shipping or Billing Address option is only available in the USA.
10. Override how taxes are calculated?	If the Dealership needs to override the default taxes with a special tax, enable this toggle and then select the relevant tax from the dropdown. After selecting the tax, choose which Item Types the override should apply to.
11. Sales Tax Details	Lists any sales tax attached to the whole Service Job. To see a breakdown of the taxes, click the Sales Tax Details icon.

Taxation - USA