> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bellabooking.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Taxes (GST / VAT / Sales Tax)

> Register your business for tax, capture GST, VAT or sales tax on every sale, issue tax invoices, and report tax collected for your BAS, VAT return or sales-tax return.

## What Bella's tax handling does

If your business is registered for tax, Bella can capture the tax component on every sale, show it on the client's receipt as a proper **tax invoice**, and total it up for you in a **Tax collected** report - so filing your BAS, VAT return or sales-tax return is a matter of reading the figures off one screen rather than reconciling by hand.

It works in **any country**. You set a single business-wide **rate** and a **tax label** (GST, VAT, Sales tax, or just Tax) - and Bella suggests sensible defaults for both based on the country your location is in, so most businesses only confirm what's already filled in. Prices are **tax-inclusive** in this release (tax-on-top pricing is coming soon - see below).

> [!NOTE]
>
> Tax is off until you switch it on. While your business isn't registered for tax, nothing changes anywhere - no tax lines, no tax invoice heading, no tax report. This is the safe default, so turning tax on is a deliberate step you take when you're ready.

Tax settings live on each **location**, so a business running an Australian GST site and a UK VAT site from one account gets the right label, rate and pricing basis on each - they don't have to match.

***

## Registering your business for tax

1. Go to **Settings → Tax**
2. Set **Registered for tax** to **Registered**
3. Confirm or adjust the **tax label** and **rate** (see below - pricing stays tax-inclusive, see "Tax-inclusive pricing" below)
4. Review the change summary, then click **Apply**

Because Bella reads your location's country, the tax label and rate arrive pre-filled - for example an Australian location suggests **GST** at **10%**; a UK location suggests **VAT** at **20%**. Every suggestion is editable - they're a starting point, never a rule. Pricing is tax-inclusive in every country for now (see below).

### Tax label

The label is what your clients see on their receipt and what the report is headed with - **GST**, **VAT**, **Sales tax**, or **Tax**. Pick the term used in your market.

### Rate

A single business-wide percentage - for example `10` for 10% GST or `20` for 20% VAT. A rate of 0% is allowed for zero-rated regimes. You can't register with a blank or negative rate.

### Tax-inclusive pricing

Bella uses **tax-inclusive** pricing (the norm in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the EU) - the tax is already *within* the prices you've set. A $110 service at 10% GST contains $10 of GST; the client still pays \$110. Bella works out the tax component and shows it on the receipt without changing what the client pays.

> [!NOTE]
>
> **Tax-exclusive (tax-on-top) pricing is coming soon.** If your market adds tax *on top* of the ticket price at checkout (common in the US and Canada), that mode isn't available yet - there's no exclusive-pricing control in Bella today. For now you can still use tax in Bella by setting your displayed prices to already include tax (tax-inclusive), and Bella will report the tax within them. Tax-on-top charging is the next step we're building.

### Adding your registration number to receipts

Add your **ABN**, **VAT number**, **GST number** or local business/tax number in the **registration number** field on the same tax settings screen. Every tax invoice from then on shows it in the header, labelled for your country - an Australian business's prints as **ABN 12 345 678 901**, a UK business's as **VAT Reg No. GB123456789**. The number is frozen onto each sale at checkout, so historic receipts keep the number that was current when they were issued.

***

## Marking a service or product as exempt

When your business is registered, every service and product is **taxable by default**. To mark one exempt:

1. Open the **service** or **product** and find the **Taxable** toggle (it only appears once your business is registered)
2. Switch it **off** to make that item tax-free

From then on that item's line carries no tax on any future sale, and it's counted as an **exempt sale** in the report. Everything else stays taxable unless you say otherwise.

**Appointment fees** are taxable by default when a tax-registered business turns the setting on. The choice is saved with each appointment, so changing it later does not rewrite an appointment already quoted. An unregistered business does not tax the fee. Configure it under [Booking policies](https://docs.bellabooking.com/appointments/booking-policies#appointment-fee).

**Custom items** ([one-off charges added at the till, or on an appointment when you create, edit or check it out](https://docs.bellabooking.com/sales/index.md#adding-a-custom-item), with no catalogue service or product behind them) follow the same rule - a **Taxable** toggle on the custom item row is on by default once your business is registered, and only appears then. Unlike a service or product, this choice is made fresh each time you add the line, not saved against a catalogue record.

***

## What the receipt and tax invoice show

Once your business is registered, the client's receipt becomes a **tax invoice**. See [Receipts & invoices](https://docs.bellabooking.com/sales/receipts.md) for the full picture of how receipts are sent, printed and saved - with tax switched on, the same receipt also shows:

* A **"Tax Invoice"** heading, and your registration number with the business name in the header
* A **tax line** showing the rate the sale was taxed at and the exact tax amount within the total - for example *"Includes GST (10%) $16.36"* in the totals block (the emailed receipt words it as *"Total price includes GST (10%) $16.36"*)
* On a **mixed** sale only, an asterisk (`*`) beside each **taxable line** (with an *"\* includes GST"* footnote) so tax-free items are easy to tell apart - following the convention tax authorities expect when an invoice combines taxable and tax-free items. A fully-taxable invoice needs no per-line marks: the tax line covers it
* The **client's name and billing address** (when they have an address on file), plus each line's **team member** and any **add-ons**, itemised
* Once the sale has been **refunded**, the heading stays **Tax Invoice** and a line under the date says so: **Refunded on Sat, 07 Nov 2026** when nothing is left paid, or **Partly refunded on Sat, 07 Nov 2026** while part of it still is. Each refund shows the tax it reversed, for example *"Includes GST (10%) reversed"*

The tax figures are **captured on the sale at checkout** - so a receipt always prints the rate and label that were in place when the sale happened. Changing your rate later only affects new sales; receipts already issued are never rewritten.

***

## The Tax collected report

**Insights → Reports → Tax collected** gives you, for any period you choose, everything you need to file:

* **Taxable sales** - the total sales that carried tax, after discounts and with the tax inside them
* **Exempt sales** - sales of tax-free items, after discounts
* **Tax collected** - the tax component of your taxable sales
* **Tax refunded** - tax reversed on refunds in the period, on the day of each refund (a refund doesn't reduce Taxable sales)
* **Net tax** - tax collected less tax refunded, i.e. the amount to remit

Use it to complete your **BAS** (Australia), your **VAT return** (UK / EU), or your **sales-tax return** (US) - the figures line up with the boxes those returns ask for. Refunds are netted automatically, so the report always reflects what you actually owe. See [Reports](https://docs.bellabooking.com/insights/reports) for how date ranges, totals and CSV export work across every report.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Only sales made while your business was registered carry tax, so older sales from before you switched tax on simply don't appear in the report. The report requires the **Reports → View all** permission.

***

## How tax is treated across Bella

Bella follows the correct tax treatment for each kind of transaction, so you don't have to think about the edge cases:

* **Tips are never taxed.** A tip is a voluntary gratuity, not part of the supply, so it's kept out of the taxable total and never appears on the tax line - the correct treatment worldwide.
* **Gift cards are taxed at redemption, not at sale.** Selling a gift card takes no tax; the tax lands when the card is redeemed against a taxable service or product. That means a gift card is never double-taxed.
* **Packages are taxed at the point of sale.** When a client later redeems a package session, it covers the service line in full, so no further tax is charged - the tax was already accounted for when the package was bought.
* **Deposits are taxed once, at final checkout.** A deposit is just a payment towards the final bill, so the whole sale's tax is worked out when the appointment is checked out - never twice.
* **Membership fees are taxed and included in the report**, so recurring plan revenue is accounted for alongside your other taxable sales.
* **A processing fee on an older sale follows the supply.** Bella no longer adds processing fees to client payments. A sale that carried one before keeps its tax treatment: taxed with the sale's taxable lines, untaxed on a fully exempt sale.
* **Discounts reduce the taxable amount.** Tax is worked out on the discounted price, and a discount that applies across the whole sale is shared fairly between the taxable and exempt parts.

***

## Good to know

* **Nothing is applied until you register.** An unregistered business behaves exactly as before - no tax anywhere.
* **Everything is captured per sale.** Rate, label, pricing basis and the tax amount are frozen onto each sale at checkout, so changing a setting never rewrites past sales or past receipts.
* **Tax is always in your location's currency** and shown with your currency's formatting - never a hardcoded symbol.
* **It's available on every plan** - tax handling is compliance groundwork, not a paid add-on.

***

## FAQs

**Q: Do I have to turn tax on?**
A: No. If your business isn't registered for tax, leave it off and nothing changes. Switch it on only when you're registered and ready to capture tax.

**Q: When does tax start once I set Registered for tax to Registered?**
A: From the moment you click **Apply**. Every sale completed after that captures tax, including the checkout of an appointment that was booked before you switched it on. Sales completed earlier keep the receipts they were issued with: Bella doesn't add tax to them afterwards.

**Q: Can each of my locations have a different tax setup?**
A: Yes. Tax settings live on each location, so an Australian GST location and a UK VAT location in the same account each use their own label, rate and pricing basis independently.

**Q: Can I change my rate later?**
A: Yes. A new rate applies to sales made from that point on. Receipts and the Tax collected report for earlier sales keep the rate that was in place when they happened.

**Q: Is a tip taxed?**
A: No. Tips are voluntary and are always kept out of the taxable total and off the tax line.

**Q: When is a gift card taxed?**
A: At redemption, not at sale - so it's never taxed twice.

**Q: Why don't older sales show in the Tax collected report?**
A: Only sales made while your business was registered carry tax, so sales from before you switched tax on aren't included.

***

## Permissions

Editing tax settings requires the **Manage settings** permission. Viewing the Tax collected report requires the **Reports → View all** permission. Team members without these won't see the Tax section or the report.


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