# How to Set Up Sales Tax in WooCommerce Canonical: https://trykintsugi.com/blog/how-to-set-up-sales-tax-in-woocommerce Published: 2026-09-29 Turn on taxes, add rates by hand or CSV, or use WooCommerce Tax, then find your tax report. Steps from WooCommerce's docs and where its tools stop. To set up sales tax in WooCommerce, turn on taxes under **WooCommerce > Settings > General**, then either enter tax rates yourself under **WooCommerce > Settings > Tax** or switch on the WooCommerce Tax extension to calculate them at checkout. WooCommerce's own documentation says these tools cover how the platform handles tax, not when or what you owe. The steps below follow WooCommerce's documentation, checked on September 29, 2026. Sources are listed at the end. ## Turn on taxes in WooCommerce 1. In your WordPress dashboard, go to **WooCommerce > Settings > General**. 2. In the **Taxes and coupons** section, select **Enable tax rates and calculations**. 3. Click **Save changes**. A new **Tax** tab now appears under **WooCommerce > Settings**. ## Choose how WooCommerce calculates tax On the **Tax** tab, four settings decide how a price turns into a taxed total: - **Prices entered with tax.** Choose whether the prices you type into products already include tax. If they do, WooCommerce works backward from the total. A £9.99 product at 20% tax contains £8.325 of price and £1.665 of tax. - **Calculate tax based on.** The customer's shipping address is the default. You can use the billing address or your shop's base address instead. With the shop base address, tax is always calculated from your store's location, whatever the customer's address. - **Shipping tax class.** By default, shipping takes the tax class of the products in the cart. You can pin it to Standard, Reduced rate, Zero rate, or another class. - **Rounding.** You can round tax at the subtotal level instead of per line. WooCommerce warns that mixing tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive display settings can cause off-by-one rounding differences, and offers a **Use recommended settings** button to align them. ## Add tax rates by hand Each tax class, such as Standard rates, has its own rates table. A row has these columns: | Column | What it does | | --- | --- | | Country code | Two-letter code, or `*` for every country | | State code | State or province, or `*` for all | | Postcode/ZIP | Values separated by semicolons; `*` matches a prefix, and a range like `2000…3000` works | | City | Semicolon-separated list; matching is exact | | Rate % | For example `20` for 20% | | Tax name | For example "Sales tax" | | Priority | WooCommerce uses only the first matching rate at each priority, so give rates different priorities to stack them | | Compound | Applies the rate on top of all earlier taxes | | Shipping | On by default; the rate also applies to shipping | To add one, click **Insert row**, fill in each column, and click **Save changes**. ## Import tax rates from a CSV You can import and export rates as CSV files from **WooCommerce > Settings > Tax > Standard rates**. WooCommerce suggests entering one rate by hand and exporting it, so you get a file with the ten required columns to use as a template: country code, state code, ZIP/postcode, city, rate %, tax name, priority, compound, shipping, and tax class. Leave tax class blank for standard rates. WooCommerce also offers a sample US state-tax-only CSV, and warns that it should not be used on a live store because tax rates change often. Check every rate before you rely on it. ## Let WooCommerce Tax calculate rates at checkout WooCommerce Tax is the extension that calculates sales tax at checkout from your store address and the customer's address. 1. Install and activate **WooCommerce Tax** from **Plugins > Add New Plugin**. 2. Connect your site to WordPress.com when the notice prompts you, then confirm the connection under **WooCommerce > Status > WooCommerce Tax**. 3. Under **WooCommerce > Settings > General**, make sure **Enable tax rates and calculations** is on. 4. On the **Tax** tab, set **Automated taxes** to **Enable automated taxes** and save. Three things to know before you switch it on: - **It locks other settings.** With automated taxes on, WooCommerce calculates from the shipping address and sets prices to be entered and displayed excluding tax. Those values can't be changed, which is why some tax options look grayed out. - **It backs up your manual rates and removes them.** WooCommerce Tax saves existing manual rates to a downloadable CSV, then removes them from the table. - **Coverage is limited.** Automated calculation is available for stores in the United States, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and listed EU countries. United States territories, including Puerto Rico, are not on the list. ## Find your sales tax report Tax reports are under **WooCommerce > Analytics > Taxes**. With WooCommerce Tax, a single order can create several report lines, such as city, county, and state tax, because each jurisdiction is stored separately. Orders placed before that change keep their older labels, so reports can mix both formats. ## Tax-exempt customers Neither WooCommerce tax guide describes a per-customer exemption setting, so raise exempt sales with your tax professional before you set them up. Kintsugi's [WooCommerce plugin](/product/woocommerce-sales-tax-plugin) stores and applies exemption certificates as part of its compliance workflow. ## Where WooCommerce's tax setup stops WooCommerce's documentation is direct about the limit: WooCommerce Tax does not file returns, remit tax, or determine where your business has a tax obligation. - **Where you owe tax.** For a US store, WooCommerce Tax treats your store address as the primary tax location. It does not discover the other states where you may have [economic nexus](/blog/explaining-what-is-economic-nexus-simplified). - **Other states.** To collect in another state, WooCommerce says to enable automated taxes first and then add a manual rate for that state. WooCommerce Tax does not calculate or update those manual rates, so you keep them current yourself. - **Registration, filing, and remittance.** None of the tools above do these. They stay with you, an accountant, or a compliance provider. This is where Kintsugi fits. Its [WooCommerce integration](/integrations/woocommerce) syncs your orders to monitor exposure across every US state, and its plugin calculates tax at checkout. Kintsugi then registers, files, and remits for you. Monitoring is free, and filing starts at $75 per filing or registration, with no per-state subscription. See [pricing](/pricing), or [start free](https://auth.trykintsugi.com/en/signup). To check a single rate first, try the [US sales tax calculator](/us-sales-tax-calculator). This guide is educational information, not tax advice. What you must charge depends on your products, customers, and where you have a tax obligation. ## WooCommerce sales tax FAQs ### How do I enable taxes in WooCommerce? Go to WooCommerce > Settings > General, select Enable tax rates and calculations in the Taxes and coupons section, and save. A Tax tab then appears in the settings. ### Does WooCommerce file my sales tax returns? No. WooCommerce's documentation says WooCommerce Tax does not file returns, remit tax, or determine where your business has a tax obligation. Its tax settings only control how tax is calculated and displayed. ### Can I import tax rates into WooCommerce? Yes. Under WooCommerce > Settings > Tax, use Import CSV. Export one rate first to get a template with the ten required columns, and check every rate before using it, since rates change often. ### Where is the WooCommerce sales tax report? Under WooCommerce > Analytics > Taxes. ## Sources Checked September 29, 2026: - [Setting up taxes in WooCommerce](https://woocommerce.com/document/setting-up-taxes-in-woocommerce/), for enabling taxes, the settings, the rates table, CSV import and export, and reports. - [WooCommerce Tax guide](https://woocommerce.com/document/woocommerce-shipping-and-tax/woocommerce-tax/), for automated taxes, supported countries, the primary tax location, and the limits.