Sovos Docs

Test an exempt transaction with the tax calculator

You can use the tax calculator to check if a customer's exemption would be applied to a transaction.

The following example is a transaction with a customer who has an exemption for the Entity/Use Code Resale in the state of Massachusetts.
  1. Run a control transaction.
    1. Click the Tax Calculator tab.
    2. Leave the default settings in the Document-level settings section.
    3. In the Locations section, select Ship To for Location 1, then enter the address of the retailer and click Get geo code for this address.
      In this example, the address is Worcester, MA 01601.
    4. Click Add another location, then select Ship From for Location 2, enter the address, and click Get geo code for this address.
      In this example, the address is Atlanta, Georgia 30301.
    5. In the Default line settings section, leave the payment type set to Debit and the transaction type set to 1 - Sale.
    6. In the Line Items section, enter the gross amount.
      In this example, the gross amount is $1000.
    7. Click Calculate Tax.
      The results of the calculation appear, showing that the tax amount for this transaction is $62.50
  2. Apply the exemption.
    1. Click the Close results icon to return to the Tax Calculator page.
    2. In the Line Items section, click the Search icon in the Entity/Use code field.
    3. In the Sovos Entity/Use Codes section, click the Show more arrow for Resale, then select RESA - Resale Certificate from the list and click Apply.
      This is the general Entity/Use Code for resale certificates.
    4. Click the Add Data Points icon, then select Customer/vendor from the dropdown.
    5. Click the Customer field, then enter the customer name and select it from the dropdown.
    6. Click Calculate Tax.
      The results show that in this example the exemption was applied and the customer was not charged any tax. This means that if a real transaction with these exact details is passed into Global Tax Determination from the customer's ERP, they would not be charged any tax.