TAX is only added at the end!?

[Guest stugster]

Please tell me this isn't so!

Just moved from osCommerce to CubeCart v3, then up to v4 in the hope that it's not got this huge problem.

VAT/TAX is only added when you move from the Basket to the Checkout!? Eh?

Why is VAT or TAX not calculated per product, and shown on each products information page? More so, why is VAT / TAX not shown in the Basket?

I don't know many supermarkets that I go around where VAT is thrown at me when I reach the checkout (ok, the big cash-and-carries, but they're b2b!).

Does anyone have a solution to this? Is it just me that feels like this?

[Guest Brivtech]

They're not added, because different countries have different VAT rates - For instance, if you're in the UK, you charge UK customers 17.5%, EU customers 15%, and don't charge VAT outside of those areas (don't quote me on the charge rates here).

So, if you were a customer from the USA buying something from a UK store, you wouldn't want to see a price that is 17.5% more.

I can understand your point though, because if you're only dealing with UK customers, you really want to have the VAT included, as you are B2C, as you mentioned this point.

There is a fix I believe that was recently implemented...

When you add/edit a product, there's a new option:

"Prices include Tax:"

Set the checkbox, and the prices you quote should then include the tax value within the store. Then in the basket, it will instead show a tax breakdown summary, rather than an additional charge calculation.

[Guest stugster]

Hi Brivtech,

Thanks for the suggestion!

Unfortunately, tax still doesn't show in the Basket, even with each product ticked for TAX included in price.

It seems such a simple feature. I've tested a couple other competing software solutions, and they all have this ability.

Surely there are a lot of people who only trade within their own countries? How do they get around this design fault?

[Guest Brivtech]

GRRRRRR! I thought they sorted it out with that.

Okay,

I don't have much time to look into this properly, so here's a quick fix, which I have not actually tested. Someone please let me know if it works ok - or not...

in the cart.tpl, this code manages the display of the tax (I'm showing this for reference, don't do anything with it):

<td colspan="6" align="left">{VAL_TAX_REG}</td>

<td width="80" align="right">{LANG_TAX}</td>

<td align="right">{VAL_TAX}</td>

The tax is calculated when the customer's details are known, until then, n/a is shown, so let's approach this to replace the n/a with a forced calculation of the VAT that is included in the subtotal (Assuming that all prices listed, already contain VAT).





Open: includes/content/cart.inc.php



Find on line 887:

	// start: Flexible Taxes, by Estelle Winterflood

	// display taxes

	if ($config_tax_mod['status']){

		if (count($taxes)==0){

			$view_cart->assign("LANG_TAX",$lang['cart']['tax']);

			$view_cart->assign("VAL_TAX",$lang['cart']['na']);

		} else {

			// any additional taxes

			for ($i=1; $i<count($taxes); $i++) {

				$view_cart->assign("LANG_TAX",$taxes[$i]['display']);

				$view_cart->assign("VAL_TAX",priceFormat($taxes[$i]['amount'],TRUE));

				$view_cart->parse("view_cart.cart_true.repeat_more_taxes");

			}



			// first tax

			$view_cart->assign("LANG_TAX",$taxes[0]['display']);

			$view_cart->assign("VAL_TAX",priceFormat($taxes[0]['amount'],TRUE));

		}



		// tax registration number(s)

		$reg_number = $db->select("SELECT reg_number FROM ".$glob['dbprefix']."CubeCart_tax_details;");

		$reg_string = "";

		for ($i=0; is_array($reg_number) && $i<count($reg_number); $i++) {

			if (strlen($reg_string) && $reg_number[$i]['reg_number']!="") 

			{

				$reg_string .= "<br/>";

			}

			$reg_string .= $reg_number[$i]['reg_number'];

		}

		$view_cart->assign("VAL_TAX_REG",$reg_string);

		// end: Flexible Taxes

	} else {

		$view_cart->assign("LANG_TAX",$lang['cart']['tax']);

		if($tax>0) {

			$view_cart->assign("VAL_TAX",priceFormat($tax,TRUE));

		} else {

			$view_cart->assign("VAL_TAX",$lang['cart']['na']);

		}

	}

Replace with: (I've commented each line that I've added or changed with // ***)

	// start: Flexible Taxes, by Estelle Winterflood

	// display taxes

	if (!isset($shippingPrice)){$shippingPrice == 0; } // *** Assign shipping price the value of Zero if not set

	$vatTotal = ( $subTotal - ( ( $subTotal + $shippingPrice) / 1.175 ) ); // *** Calculate the Vat from the gross amount



	if ($config_tax_mod['status']){

		if (count($taxes)==0){

			$view_cart->assign("LANG_TAX",$lang['cart']['tax']);

//			$view_cart->assign("VAL_TAX",$lang['cart']['na']);

			$view_cart->assign("VAL_TAX",priceFormat($vatTotal,TRUE));  $gt = $vatTotal; // *** Changed N/A to show the included VAT amount

		} else {

			// any additional taxes

			for ($i=1; $i<count($taxes); $i++) {

				$view_cart->assign("LANG_TAX",$taxes[$i]['display']);

				$view_cart->assign("VAL_TAX",priceFormat($taxes[$i]['amount'],TRUE));

				$view_cart->parse("view_cart.cart_true.repeat_more_taxes");

			}



			// first tax

			$view_cart->assign("LANG_TAX",$taxes[0]['display']);

			$view_cart->assign("VAL_TAX",priceFormat($taxes[0]['amount'],TRUE));

		}



		// tax registration number(s)

		$reg_number = $db->select("SELECT reg_number FROM ".$glob['dbprefix']."CubeCart_tax_details;");

		$reg_string = "";

		for ($i=0; is_array($reg_number) && $i<count($reg_number); $i++) {

			if (strlen($reg_string) && $reg_number[$i]['reg_number']!="") 

			{

				$reg_string .= "<br/>";

			}

			$reg_string .= $reg_number[$i]['reg_number'];

		}

		$view_cart->assign("VAL_TAX_REG",$reg_string);

		// end: Flexible Taxes

	} else {

		$view_cart->assign("LANG_TAX",$lang['cart']['tax']);

		if($tax>0) {

			$view_cart->assign("VAL_TAX",priceFormat($tax,TRUE));

		} else {

//			$view_cart->assign("VAL_TAX",$lang['cart']['na']);

			$view_cart->assign("VAL_TAX",priceFormat($vatTotal,TRUE));  $gt = $vatTotal; // *** Changed N/A to show the included VAT amount

		}

	}

Save and upload.



Now, when the customer logs in, the correct calculations are still applied, but until then, the customer sees what would be the included vat amount (assuming that he's a UK customer).







Obviously, anyone selling B2B instead of B2C, will need to adjust the calculation to add vat, instead of calculating the included vat.



To this end, in the replaced code...



Find

	$vatTotal = ( $subTotal - ( ( $subTotal + $shippingPrice) / 1.175 ) ); // *** Calculate the Vat from the gross amount

Replace with:

		$vatTotal = ( ( $subTotal + $shippingPrice) * 0.175 ); // *** Calculate the Vat from the net amount

Find on line 985:

	$view_cart->assign("VAL_CART_TOTAL",priceFormat(($grandTotal), true));

Replace with:

if (!isset($gt)){ $gt = 0; } // Set Grand Total flag to Zero if it hasn't been set earlier

	$view_cart->assign("VAL_CART_TOTAL",priceFormat(($grandTotal+$gt), true));

You could do something similar with shipping if you have a flat rate, and force the amount instead of showing N/A if it hasn't been calculated yet.

[Guest EverythingWeb]

if you're in the UK, you charge UK customers 17.5%, EU customers 15%, and don't charge VAT outside of those areas

Eh? Sure??

In the most simplistic tmers it's this:

Sale = point of delivery

Charge UK rate on sales to the UK (17.5%)

Charge UK rate on sales to the EC IF the customer is NOT VAT Registered in their own country (17.5%)

Don't charge any VAT to individuals/companies/organisations that are in the EC (outside UK) but that hold a valid VAT number for their EC Country.

Don't charge VAT anywhere outside the UK/EC

Don't know where the 15% has come from? I know luxemborg is 15% but a countrys own rate has no bearing on the rate to be/not to be charged by a UK organisation.

I will add, that the above is an interpretation (my own personal) of the UK VAT rules, and in no way constitute a statement of fact. Anyone in doubt should consult HMRC :)

[Guest Brivtech]

I said don't quote me!

(don't quote me on the charge rates here).

This is a mute point anyway, because the topic is dealing with sales within 1 country only, which could be improved in CubeCart.

[Guest EverythingWeb]

I saw that, honest. :)

[Guest stugster]

Hi guys,

Appreciate it!

Unfortunately, this has led me to believe that CubeCart is not as good as it says it is. Such a simple function should be included in eCommerce solutions and the end user shouldn't have to hack it about (especially as it's a paid-for software solution!!!).

I am looking at alternatives. If I can't find something that does what CubeCart does, I'll come back. But they've lost my sale at this point.

It just amazes me that you can select a VAT group that the product is in, and yet it just doesn't show! Ah well.

Just to let you know, I implemented your suggestions and it works like a charm!

Pah... looks like I might stick with CC4 after all!

[Guest Brivtech]

Glad it worked.

I think the problem here is that many carts use very basic tax settings, whereas CubeCart has quite advanced calculations because of different taxing criteria for different countries, etc.. I'd say it's not because it's lacking, but more a victim of over-doing it when a simple solution is needed. Not forgetting also, that this system is in different languages, designed for use internationally, and each country has a different way of calculating tax.

Glad it helped. I hope the developers take note (Get yer Post-Its out!). I've seen lots of similar posts over time, hence why I put the time into this and make it a sticky. :)

[Guest chantelle]

Absolutely right, we have to add 20% IVA/VAT here in Italy to EU countries, because this is what we have to give back to the Italian tax office - if we added only 17.5 for UK and 15% for somewhere else, we would have to cough up the rest to make it up to 20% - so it's a blanket 20% charge, and for the UK, you should have a blanket 17.5% charge.

[Guest jazzydan58]

I have been trying to get this fixed since the start of V3, but still no luck

I have raised several tickets made loads of posts had loads of replies but when ever I contact cubecart with a ticket they say something like "the tax settings are working fine and no one else has contaced them so it doesnt need fixing". (which is fair enough if I am the only one bothered about it!)

Not only does the vat not display correctly in the shopping cart it doesnt work correctly with shipping, the products have the option of a tick box that says "include tax in price" BUT the shipping does not (shipping is liable for vat as well in the UK) so even if you got one part working you will never get the shipping to display properly, believe me i have spent hours and hours and hours playing with all of the settings from cubecart 3.0.1 to 4.2.2 thinking that it was me not setting the tax up correctly, alas still no luck!

Seems strange seeing as Cubecart is a UK company but they cant work about the UK tax set up!

[Guest Brivtech]

So, what are you saying? You applied my fix and it still isn't working?

[cb2004]

Will this mod reduce the subtotal as well?

[Guest toma]

So, what are you saying? You applied my fix and it still isn't working?

This does not work for me either for V3...

I did not even have the same lines in the cart.inc.php...

This include tax in price is painful...

I have found how to change Unicode, but then it breaks the other languages like French...Somebody started to develop this program in a different code, then the whole is mixed...

I have been trying to get this fixed since the start of V3, but still no luck

I have raised several tickets made loads of posts had loads of replies but when ever I contact cubecart with a ticket they say something like "the tax settings are working fine and no one else has contaced them so it doesnt need fixing". (which is fair enough if I am the only one bothered about it!)

Not only does the vat not display correctly in the shopping cart it doesnt work correctly with shipping, the products have the option of a tick box that says "include tax in price" BUT the shipping does not (shipping is liable for vat as well in the UK) so even if you got one part working you will never get the shipping to display properly, believe me i have spent hours and hours and hours playing with all of the settings from cubecart 3.0.1 to 4.2.2 thinking that it was me not setting the tax up correctly, alas still no luck!

Seems strange seeing as Cubecart is a UK company but they cant work about the UK tax set up!

Did you find any solution for that? I am thinking to change to OScommerce if this one will not be fixed...

I need a tax in the price shown in the item itself...

[Guest Brivtech]

So, what are you saying? You applied my fix and it still isn't working?

This does not work for me either for V3...

I did not even have the same lines in the cart.inc.php...

That is because it is for Version 4, indicated by the forum category under which this is posted.

[Guest benfrain.com]

Just to say thanks Brivtech for this hack - works a treat on my store (v4.2.2).

Only related little tweak that would help customers is when the customer first views the basket (if they haven't logged in) instead of it saying 'Shipping: N/A' it could be made to say something like 'Shipping: calculated at next stage' - presumably this would be quite simple if one knew where to look? I tried the language file and although na is listed as having 'N/A' as the value, when I change this it doesn't alter the shipping part above.

[Guest Brivtech]

Cheers, glad it helped. I'll look into that text and post back here in a moment with the answer.

EDIT:

Okay, here you go....

Open: includes/content/cart.inc.php

Find: (In mine, it's around line 817 - But I have lots of mods, so yours may be different)

 		$shippingPrice = $lang['cart']['na'];

Replace with:

 		$shippingPrice = "Calculated in next step";

The problem with changing N/A in the language file is that it is used several times by different things.

You could always add it in as a new entry, but I shan't go into that here.

[Guest benfrain.com]

Superb! I have actually bought & installed a mod that keeps the VAT and shipping in all windows, but this would solve the problem for users who don't want to spend on such a mod, or where the mod isn't suitable.

[Guest]

Hi,

Is this also available for the print order form?

I want to calculate the tax the same way, hope someone can help...

Regards,

Hugo

[Guest itnutter]

Thanks so much for the code, you have made my day (night actually)!

[Jayphen]

I have adapted your patch to work with Australian GST, however it is still very primitive (I mean no offence to you by this) .. The store I am working on sells to international customers, and so the GST component should obviously only be shown to Australian customers, whilst international customers should see the "N/A". Is there a fix for this at all?

[Guest tony_b6]

I think this is great. I've just recently downloaded CC4 and have spent the day testing & configuring the download. As a company we sell to most EU countries and also some NON EU. For EU countries VAT is charged at 17.5% for non EU its 0%. We also sell things likes books which are 0 rated for VAT. Currently our website uses RomanCart. I'm looking to move away because I want to manage our own customer database. Other than that RomanCart does everything we need and more

My initial thoughts on Cube Cart are not good. The VAT calculating system is crap and simply does not work and the shipping modules are simply appalling. We ship based on weight but offer 3 services to the UK (free standard, Next Day Royal Mail and Private Courier), 2 to the channel islands and 1 International. I'm not surprised CubeCart arent looking into these problems when they can rely on you USERS to support and supply fixes for yourselfs. As someone who is evaluating the software I thought I'd just send an e-mail to support and ask them why their VAT/TAX system doesnt work but it seems you need to pay for support and guess what I'm not going to pay when all I'm doing is evaluating the product. The lack of any user of configuration guide is also unbelievable. Seems to me that they expect me to purchase the package and then go out and buy all these independent modules which only then allow it to do what all other carts already do. I also wonder if once I apply these mods, do cubecart still fully support the package.

I spent a short time evaluating OSComercer too, the free one. Its fairley much the same as cube cart only the VAT and shipping modules are better and work. Indeed there are also user and configurations guides available typed up by the forums. The only question was the support issue. When software is free and your not a "developer" you know your going to spend time looking for fixes and attachments. Seems to me if I go the Cubecart way I'll be doing the same thing only I'd have initail PAID for this softare.

TIP from me guys, If you have to pay just to speak to support then forget it. Chances are they arent even aware of half their problems and if they dont know the problems how are they going to fix them in Version 5.....Chance are they wont find this bit of information and if they do they will probably ignore it anyway or put it down to an isolated problems. Seems bizarre with the internet being a global market place cube cart cant even get TAX and shipping right.

[Guest jazzydan58]

According to cubecart bigwigs, everything works fine and you will be the only one having problems. I was really behind cubecart from version 3.0 opened bug reports, reported faults and errors

So many of them were ignored and closed without being fixed I gave up (as have many other people), this forum has no active staff support so simple problems can not be fixed easily. Cubecart support goes together well with chocolate teapot, the 3 or 4 times I had problems they couldn't fix the problem yet a custom coder could.

I still use cubecart for all my stores but thats only because of estelle without her i would be long gone!

There used to many more good people like brivtech but sadly many of them have faded away for the above reasons......

[ordyne]

I think this is great. I've just recently downloaded CC4 and have spent the day testing & configuring the download. As a company we sell to most EU countries and also some NON EU. For EU countries VAT is charged at 17.5% for non EU its 0%. We also sell things likes books which are 0 rated for VAT. Currently our website uses RomanCart. I'm looking to move away because I want to manage our own customer database. Other than that RomanCart does everything we need and more

My initial thoughts on Cube Cart are not good. The VAT calculating system is crap and simply does not work and the shipping modules are simply appalling. We ship based on weight but offer 3 services to the UK (free standard, Next Day Royal Mail and Private Courier), 2 to the channel islands and 1 International. I'm not surprised CubeCart arent looking into these problems when they can rely on you USERS to support and supply fixes for yourselfs. As someone who is evaluating the software I thought I'd just send an e-mail to support and ask them why their VAT/TAX system doesnt work but it seems you need to pay for support and guess what I'm not going to pay when all I'm doing is evaluating the product. The lack of any user of configuration guide is also unbelievable. Seems to me that they expect me to purchase the package and then go out and buy all these independent modules which only then allow it to do what all other carts already do. I also wonder if once I apply these mods, do cubecart still fully support the package.

I spent a short time evaluating OSComercer too, the free one. Its fairley much the same as cube cart only the VAT and shipping modules are better and work. Indeed there are also user and configurations guides available typed up by the forums. The only question was the support issue. When software is free and your not a "developer" you know your going to spend time looking for fixes and attachments. Seems to me if I go the Cubecart way I'll be doing the same thing only I'd have initail PAID for this softare.

TIP from me guys, If you have to pay just to speak to support then forget it. Chances are they arent even aware of half their problems and if they dont know the problems how are they going to fix them in Version 5.....Chance are they wont find this bit of information and if they do they will probably ignore it anyway or put it down to an isolated problems. Seems bizarre with the internet being a global market place cube cart cant even get TAX and shipping right.

Unfortunately I have to agree, I go VAT registered next month and have EU customers who are VAT registered as well as private individuals who are not. As it stands cube cart 4 just doesn't work if you are VAT registered. I just don't get how the developers thought the present setup is acceptable, are you supposed to tell the customers they need a 17.5% refund if they are VAT registered in the EU ?!?!!? You may as well tell them not to use the store and do it all manually which defeats the object..

I could be wrong but I've not seen anything in CC5 that seems to resolve this either?

I've been a cubecart customer for a number of years but I'm starting to think I need to jump ship even though it means a massive amount of work.

[Guest]

I've just been testing my own CubeCart installation as to how it handles VAT, and found it to be ok?

Unless I've missed something?... :dizzy: