Sales Tax at Checkout

Your makerspace can now collect sales tax at checkout. You set a standard tax rate for each jurisdiction you’re registered in, mark which items are taxable, and MakerVera applies your rate to those items when a member pays. Your makerspace stays the merchant of record — you author the rate, MakerVera simply applies it, and you remain responsible for reporting and remitting the tax you collect.

Tip

This is not tax advice. MakerVera applies the rate you enter — it never decides what’s taxable, what rate applies, or where you owe tax. If you’re unsure about your obligations, talk to an accountant who knows your jurisdiction.

How it works

1. Register your jurisdictions. In Tax settings, list the countries and states or provinces you collect tax in, each with a registration status. Tax is collected only while your primary jurisdiction is Registered (see Registration status).
2. Set a standard rate. Give a registered jurisdiction a single standard tax rate (for example, 8.25%). Leave the rate blank to register the jurisdiction without collecting tax yet.
3. Mark what’s taxable. Turn on the Taxable toggle for the store products, events and classes, or memberships that should be taxed. Everything starts not taxable by default.
4. MakerVera applies it at checkout. When a member buys a taxable item, MakerVera applies your standard rate, the tax is added to the charge, and the amount collected is recorded on the order.

You collect tax only when all three are true: the item is marked taxable, your jurisdiction has a rate set, and your primary jurisdiction’s registration status is Registered. If any of them is missing, no tax is added and the member simply pays the listed price.

Registration status

Each jurisdiction in Tax settings has a registration status: Registered, Pending, or Not Registered. MakerVera charges tax only while your primary jurisdiction is Registered. While it’s Pending or Not Registered, no checkout adds tax, even on taxable items with a rate set, and nothing is recorded as collected.

This lets a makerspace that isn’t required to collect tax yet (for example, one under a small-supplier threshold) set up its rates ahead of time without charging members before it’s registered.

Status of your primary jurisdiction	What happens at checkout
Registered	Your standard rate is applied to taxable items.
Pending	No tax is charged.
Not Registered	No tax is charged.

While your primary jurisdiction isn’t Registered, Tax settings shows a warning:

No tax is collected until the registration state is Registered.

The warning links straight to the registration setting so you can update it when your registration comes through.

Memberships and add-ons that are already running

Changing the registration status also applies to subscriptions members already have. Existing memberships, membership add-ons and recurring product subscriptions start charging tax (when you become Registered) or stop charging it (when you move away from Registered) from their next invoice. The change can take up to about 15 minutes to reach them, so an invoice created in that window still follows the previous status. Charges already made are not changed.

Tip

If your makerspace was already collecting tax before registration status controlled checkout, MakerVera marked its primary jurisdiction Registered so it keeps charging exactly as before. Check that the status matches your actual registration.

Setting a standard rate

Each registered jurisdiction holds one standard rate that applies to every taxable item.

Field	What it does
Standard tax rate (%)	A single rate from 0 to 100, up to four decimal places (for example, 8.25 or 7.7500).
Blank rate	The jurisdiction is registered but collects nothing yet. This is different from entering 0, which is a real 0% rate.

Tip

MVP applies one rate per jurisdiction, based on your makerspace’s own location (origin-based). Different rates for different product types, and destination-based rates, are planned for a later release.

Marking items as taxable

The Taxable toggle decides whether an item is taxed at checkout. It’s off by default everywhere, so nothing is taxed until you turn it on.

Item type	Where the toggle lives	Default
Store products	Product detail page	Not taxable
Events and classes	Event ticketing settings	Not taxable
Memberships and dues	Membership plan settings	Not taxable

Alongside the toggle you can tag an item with a tax category (for example, standard, exempt, or apparel) to describe how it should be treated in your records. Today every taxable item uses your single standard rate; the category is kept for your reporting and for future per-category rates.

Items that are never taxed

Gift cards and donations are never taxed at purchase, and there’s no taxable toggle on either. A gift card is stored value, not a taxable good — any tax applies when the card is redeemed, not when it’s bought. Donations are charitable, not a sale.

The “no rate set” warning

If you mark an item taxable but no jurisdiction has a rate yet, you’ll see a short, non-blocking warning on the form:

This item is marked taxable, but no jurisdiction has a tax rate configured yet — tax won’t be collected until you set one.

It includes a link to your jurisdiction rate settings. The warning never stops you from saving — it’s there to catch the easy-to-miss case where an item looks taxable but won’t actually collect anything because no rate exists.

What members see

When a taxable item is bought while your primary jurisdiction is Registered and has a rate, tax is added to the charge and appears on the member’s receipt as a tax line (labelled by tax type, such as Sales Tax). When an item isn’t taxable, no rate is set, or you aren’t Registered, there’s no tax line and the member pays the listed price.

The collected-tax record on an order

Every paid order keeps a collected-tax record — a running history of the tax charged on that order, including reversals when an order is refunded. You’ll find it on the order’s detail page. Now that collection is live, this record fills in with real amounts as taxable orders come through.

Tax charged on membership signups, renewals and membership add-ons is recorded too, so it counts toward your collected-tax totals alongside one-time purchases.

Tip

The collected-tax record is a filing input, not a filed return — MakerVera never files or remits on your behalf. It’s there to make your own reporting easier, not to replace it.

To see what you’ve collected across all orders — totalled by filing period, jurisdiction, and currency, net of refunds — use the Collected Tax report under Admin → Reports. It rolls these per-order records up into the shape a filing needs, and exports a filing-ready CSV.

What this means for your makerspace

Because your makerspace is the merchant of record, you’re responsible for your own sales-tax obligations — registering where you’re required to, entering the correct rate, and reporting and remitting through your own accounting process. MakerVera applies the rate you set and records what was collected; the rest stays in your control.

Topic	Where it lands
What rate to charge	You author it. MakerVera applies exactly what you enter, never a rate it picks.
What’s taxable	You decide, per item. Everything defaults to not taxable.
Who remits tax	Your makerspace, as the merchant of record, through your own bookkeeping.
Gift cards and donations	Never taxed at purchase.