Set your tax rate

How RealPOS decides the sales tax on each item, how to add a tax rate, and how to make items non-taxable or an order tax exempt.

Sales tax in RealPOS is set up in three places that work together:

• Taxes (in Store Settings): the tax rates themselves, like "Sales Tax 8%" or "Liquor Tax 10%".
• Categories (in Menu): reporting groups like Food, Beer, Wine and Liquor. Each category gets one of your taxes.
• Departments and Items (in Menu): each department belongs to a category, and an item can have its own tax or be marked Non Taxable.

Your restaurant also has a store sales tax rate, set by your dealer when your restaurant was created.

#How the tax on an item is decided

When an item is rung in on the POS, RealPOS works out its tax in this order:

1. Non Taxable is checked on the item, or on its department: no tax.
2. The item has its own Tax picked: that rate.
3. Otherwise, the tax on the item's department's category. If that category is set to No tax assigned, items in it are not taxed (unless the item picks a tax of its own).
4. If the department has No category assigned: the store sales tax rate.

The tax is fixed on each item when it is rung in, so changing a tax setting affects new items rung in from then on, not items already on open checks.

#Add a tax rate

1. In the back office, go to Store Settings > Taxes.
2. Under Named Taxes, type a name (for example "Sales Tax" or "Liquor Tax") and the rate in the % box.
3. Click +.

The Taxes page

To remove a tax, click the trash icon beside it.

#Give a category its tax

1. Go to Menu > Categories and click the category.
2. Pick the rate in Tax.
3. Click Save.

Categories, each with its tax

On the Categories list, a category with no tax shows No Tax Assigned beside its name. Check this list carefully: everything in a category with no tax is rung in with no tax.

Then make sure each department is in the right category: go to Menu > Departments, click a department, and pick its Category, then click Save.

#Give one item a different tax

1. Go to Menu > Items and click the item.
2. In Tax, pick the rate. Leave it on Inherit from Dept/Category to use its category's tax.
3. Click Save.

#Make items non-taxable

• One item: open the item and check Non Taxable (beside Tax), then Save.
• A whole department: open the department under Menu > Departments, check Non Taxable, then Save.

Non-taxable sales are listed on the Non Taxed Items Sales Report under Reports > Sales.

#Tax exempt orders

Some guests don't pay sales tax at all, like a church group or a school with a tax-exempt certificate. That's done on the POS for the one order, not in the menu: on the Pay screen, tap Tax Exempt and type a message for the receipt, such as the group's name or their tax ID. Every tax-exempt order, with its message, is on the Tax Exempt Sales Report under Reports > Sales.

#Good to know

• Check before you open. Ring in one item from each department on a test order and look at the tax on the check. It's the quickest way to catch a department in the wrong category or a category with no tax.
• Changing the store sales tax rate. There isn't a screen for it in the back office. Ask your dealer or support@bayareapointofsale.com.
• More about categories and departments: Categories and departments.