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Squarespace Commerce: US Taxes

Online commerce customers pay the taxes you set for your business. Manual taxes can be set up for by state and by zip code in the United States.

A few things to note about online commerce taxes:

  • For physical products, the customer’s shipping address determines the tax rate.

  • For digital and service products, the customer’s billing address determines the tax rate. Unless a physical product was also purchased then the tax rate would be based on the customer’s billing address.

  • If you use member area memberships on your Squarespace website, the billing zip code associated with your membership is used to determine the tax rate.

  • For donations or gift cards, tax rates do not apply.

Make sure to talk with an accountant to know what taxes you business or organization legally needs to set up.

To set up taxes:

  1. Home > Commerce > Taxes

  2. Select the Set Up Now button

  3. Select Country

  4. Select State

  5. Select Next in the upper right-hand corner

  6. Select State Rate

  7. Decide if you want to click the toggle for Charge taxes on Member Areas and services

  8. Decide if you want to click the toggle for Charge Taxes on Shipping

Zip Code Rate:

Before you go further, click on Add Zip Code Rate. Many states or localities have variable local tax rates (again, talk to an accountant for specific matters concerning taxes in your area and what to charge).

  • Zip Code - Add tax rate information for one zip code.

  • Zip Range - Add tax rate for multiple zip codes, a region.

Squarespace makes setting up your online/commerce website for taxes very easy. Talk to an accountant to get the correct information about the different areas you plan to service and follow the step-by-step Squarespace instructions. The Squarespace Knowledge Base has so much great information. Take a look at these two help guides from the Squarespace Knowledge Base:

Setting up automatic tax rates in the US

Setting up manual tax rates in Squarespace Commerce

Setting up an online/commerce website is exciting. Don’t let the tax rates scare you. Just make sure you get the correct information and put that into Squarespace. Set a reminder for yourself to check back with the accountant throughout the year and get on email lists for your state and the states you service to make sure you have the correct information. Good luck!