If you’re using Stripe’s payment platform and considering a sales-tax automation tool, you’re on the right track—automation can make tax management more efficient. This guide will help you find a sales-tax automation partner for Stripe.
About Stripe
Stripe is a payment-processing platform that provides businesses with online payments, billing, invoicing, subscriptions, fraud prevention, and financial reporting tools. It enables businesses to accept payments globally, including credit cards, digital wallets, and alternative payment methods.
However, while Stripe does offer basic sales-tax calculation through Stripe Tax, it does not automatically collect, remit, or file sales taxes on behalf of every business. Merchants remain responsible for tracking tax obligations, registering with the appropriate tax authorities, and filing returns. Integrating a tax-compliance tool like Kintsugi can help streamline that work.
Does Stripe Automatically Collect Sales Tax?
Stripe Tax is designed to help automate sales tax, value-added tax (VAT), and goods and services tax (GST) for businesses that use Stripe for payment and billing. Stripe Tax is an additional service, and the exact responsibilities it covers depend on the configuration and jurisdiction. Businesses should confirm the current Stripe Tax capabilities and their own filing obligations.
Who Is Kintsugi?
Kintsugi is a sales-tax automation platform designed to help businesses manage compliance across jurisdictions. Each jurisdiction has its own rules and regulations, making sales-tax management difficult for businesses that sell across state lines or international borders.
Kintsugi organizes sales-tax compliance into three steps:
- Connect and monitor.
- Register and collect.
- Remit and file.
The platform can help businesses track sales-tax nexus and liabilities, import transactions, and manage voluntary disclosure agreements (VDAs).
Why Choose Kintsugi for Stripe?
Kintsugi offers flexible pricing without annual commitments, alongside onboarding and integration workflows designed to be straightforward for Stripe users. It calculates tax using jurisdiction-specific rates and provides customer support to help businesses manage their compliance process.
Benefits of the Kintsugi and Stripe Partnership
- Sales-tax automation: Kintsugi can support monitoring nexus, registration, collection, calculation, filing, and remittance workflows.
- Onboarding and integration: A Stripe connection can be established through the Kintsugi app workflow without a custom integration.
- Customer experience: Accurate, transparent tax workflows can help businesses give customers more predictable checkout experiences.
Setting Up Your Stripe Account for Automation
Kintsugi’s no-code integration makes it possible for Stripe users to connect their account. There is one important prerequisite: Kintsugi requires Stripe Invoices rather than Stripe Payments. Review Stripe’s current invoicing documentation before starting.
Step-by-Step Integration Process
Step 1: Access Your Stripe Account
- If you already have a Stripe account, navigate to Stripe Login, enter your email and password, and select Sign In.
- If you do not have a Stripe account, select Sign Up, follow the on-screen instructions, and log in after creating the account.
Step 2: Access the Stripe App Marketplace
In the Stripe Dashboard:
- Open Apps.
- Select Go to marketplace.
- Search for Kintsugi - Sales Tax.
- Select the Kintsugi app from the search results.
Step 3: Install the Kintsugi App
- Select Install from Partner.
- Log in to your Kintsugi account when prompted.
- Choose Test Mode or Live Mode. Test Mode allows you to validate the connection without affecting live transactions; Live Mode enables real transactions and tax calculations.
- Choose the Kintsugi organization for the connection. If you manage multiple organizations, verify that you select the correct one.
- Select Install.
Step 4: Connect Kintsugi to Your Stripe Account
Select the Stripe account where you want to install the app. After installation, you will be redirected to connector.trykintsugi.com.
Step 5: Verify Installation in Stripe and Kintsugi
In Stripe:
- Open the Stripe Dashboard’s Apps section.
- Confirm that Kintsugi appears among the installed apps.
- Open Kintsugi to access its dashboard and Tasks section.
In Kintsugi:
- Log in to your Kintsugi account.
- Navigate to Data Sources under your organization.
- Confirm that an active Stripe connection is listed.
Step 6: Verify Product Classification in Kintsugi
Navigate to the Products section in the Kintsugi dashboard and ensure that products are correctly classified under their categories and subcategories. Proper classification supports accurate tax calculation and product mapping.
Step 7: Enable Tax Collection for Stripe
Once your Stripe connection is established and your organization is ready, you can enable tax collection in Kintsugi. The option becomes available when:
- The Stripe connection has completed its initial data import.
- The organization has established physical nexus in at least one jurisdiction.
- The organization has at least one active tax registration.
- Organization details are complete.
After these requirements are met, enable tax collection from the Kintsugi dashboard.
Integrate Stripe with Kintsugi for Sales-Tax Compliance
Stripe’s responsibilities and tax-collection capabilities depend on the products and jurisdictions involved. Pairing Stripe with Kintsugi can give businesses a workflow for monitoring, calculating, registering, filing, and remitting sales tax.
Kintsugi integrates with payment, accounting, ERP, and ecommerce platforms, including Stripe, and provides real-time tax calculations and filing workflows. If you are ready to evaluate sales-tax automation, book a demo or sign up for free with Kintsugi.
