Tax profiles

This article covers how taxes work and are calculated in Lightspeed Restaurant (K-Series), where to find reporting on the taxes you collect at the POS, and a country-specific overview of general tax information. Taxes include sales tax, value-added tax (VAT), goods and services tax (GST), or any other tax your business charges customers.

Important: Tax laws are different in every region and can change at any time. Consult a tax professional for specific advice regarding your region.

How taxes work in Lightspeed

Review the bullets below to learn how taxes function in Lightspeed Restaurant (K-Series) before setting them up. Set up taxes in the Back Office to ensure the correct sales tax, VAT, or GST amount will be charged at the POS for every order.

• In Lightspeed Restaurant, tax rates and tax profiles control how much and when tax is charged. 

  Important: US and Canadian businesses must manually add tax rates and tax profiles to their Back Office. In other countries, tax rates and profiles are automatically set up when you create your Lightspeed account.

  Click to learn more about tax rates and profiles
• Tax profiles contain one or more tax rules, each of which applies a specific tax rate. 
  Click to learn more about tax rules
• You assign tax profiles to accounting groups to determine which items each profile will apply to.
  Click to learn more about accounting groups
• Lightspeed Restaurant accounts are either tax exclusive or tax inclusive based on the country selected when setting up the account.
  Click to learn more about tax exclusive/inclusive
• Ready to start setting up taxes? 

How tax is calculated at the POS

The Restaurant POS (K) app calculates taxes for orders based on how you set up tax rates, tax profiles, and accounting groups in the Back Office (see previous section). An order's actual tax amount will vary depending on whether your account is tax exclusive or tax inclusive and how taxes are rounded.

• For tax-exclusive accounts (United States and Canada), tax is added on top of the order total.
  Click for a detailed tax-exclusive example
• For tax-inclusive accounts (countries outside the United States and Canada), tax is pulled out of the order total. 
  Click for a detailed tax-inclusive example

Where to find tax reporting

Tax reporting is available in two places: the Back Office and the Restaurant POS (K) app:

• In the Back Office, tax totals appear on many reports, allowing you to view tax information in different ways. For example, the Business Reports, Product mix Report, and Staff Report show the taxes collected in total, by item, and by employee respectively. 
• At the POS, the Fiscal report shows the total tax collected from the beginning of the first sales period on a given day until the end of that business day. 

Taxes by country

This section provides an overview of tax laws in different countries and links to government resources where you can find more detailed information.

Country	Inclusive or exclusive tax in Lightspeed?	Overview	Resources
United States	Exclusive	There is no national sales tax in the US. Each state sets its own sales tax percentage to charge on purchases made in that state. In some cases, additional county or city-level taxes also apply.	To learn more about sales tax for your specific area: use USAGov to locate the webpage for your state, then search for sales tax information.
Canada	Exclusive	There is a national goods and services tax (GST). Some provinces also charge a separate province-specific tax (PST).  Other provinces combine the GST and PST into a single harmonized sales tax (HST).	To learn how to collect, file, and remit GST and HST: visit the Canada Revenue Agency. To see if your province charges a separate PST: use Canada.ca to locate the webpage for your specific province, then search for sales tax information.
Great Britain	Inclusive	There is a value-added tax (VAT) charged on most goods and services. The VAT rate varies based on the specific items being purchased.	For specific VAT rates, exemptions and returns, see gov.uk.
Germany	Inclusive	There is a value-added tax (VAT) charged on most goods and services. The VAT rate varies based on the specific items being purchased.	To learn more about Germany's VAT, check with the Federal Ministry of Finance.
France	Inclusive	There is a value-added tax (VAT) charged on most goods and services. The VAT rate varies based on the specific items being purchased.	For more information, search for specific tax codes on Légifrance.
Switzerland	Inclusive	There is a value-added tax (VAT) charged on most goods and services. The VAT rate varies based on the specific items being purchased.	For an explanation of VAT, tax rates, and tax rules, visit the Swiss Authorities online.
Australia	Inclusive	There is a goods and services tax (GST) charged on most goods and services.	For an explanation of GST, including how to register for and charge it, visit the Australian Taxation Office.
South Africa	Inclusive	There is a value-added tax (VAT) charged on most goods and services.	For more information on VAT, including how to register for it and related regulations, visit the South African Revenue Service.
Other	Inclusive	If your country is not listed on this table, contact your local department of finance or taxation for guidance.	If your country is not listed on this table, contact your local department of finance or taxation for guidance.