Tax Jurisdiction Setup

The Tax Jurisdiction Setup tab is where you can define the tax regions in the areas that your hospital services.  Depending on your state laws, the taxes may either be collected based on the location of the hospital itself, or on the location of the sale of products (such as for mail order refills.)   Once defined, the taxes can be assigned to products, and the tax region can be adjusted on the bill via the Order Management screen when necessary.

Product Tax Category Setup

For products that are taxable, you can indicate what kind of tax category it should be marked as within your databases.  These categories should set up in accordance with your state tax laws.  

These tax categories, when created, then become available under the Tax Jurisdiction Setup tab, where you can assign the specific categories, tax percentages, and time durations.

These categories also appear under Product Details under Product Tax Category.

Under Product Details, non taxable products or services should not have a tax category assigned - when a category is assigned, the product is automatically considered taxable and will be taxed according to the applicable tax regions and tax jurisdictions.  When it is left blank, it is automatically considered non taxable.  

Tax Region Setup

Tax regions are comprised of individual Tax Jurisdictions (which are set up up on the next tab.)  A tax region is a high level area that is a collective sum of the taxes charged from state, city, or county tax bases.  For example, a state sales tax jurisdiction  at 4% would combine with a county tax jurisdiction of 4% to create a single tax region to be charged in that county of 8%.  

Because state and county taxes change on a regular basis, separating the tax regions and jurisdictions allows you to adjust each jurisdiction individually, without having to manually update each individual tax region.  If a county tax changes from 3% to 4% then you can change that one county under the tax jurisdiction, and the tax region that includes it will automatically update.  

Add Tax Region

Click on the Add button to create a new tax region.   A blank window will appear on the right hand portion of the screen.

Give the tax region a name, and a code if desired.  Include a description to help distinguish it from other tax regions.  

Then select the appropriate tax jurisdictions to be charged for that region.

Click on Save to apply the changes.  Once saved, the tax region is immediately available to be applied to your hospital's orders. 

Hospital Default Tax Region

After the tax regions are created, the default for all of your orders can be designated under the main Hospital Setup tab, under the Billing Defaults section.

Change Tax Region on Hospital Orders

For hospital orders that are in a different tax region than the hospital's default (such as mail order prescriptions), you can change the tax region manually on the hospital order.

This is done via the top line under the Order Details page.

Tax Jurisdiction Setup 

Tax Jurisdictions are where you can create the individual taxes that are charged on product categories (set up on the Product Tax Category Tab), and assign the specific rates and start and end dates for the taxes.  

Tax jurisdictions can be applied to multiple product tax categories at once.  Because the start and end dates can be adjusted alongside the rate, you can account for any increases or decreases in the specific tax as local laws change.  For example, the Athens Clarke Count SPLOST 2020 tax has a definitive start and an estimated end period.  Taxes can be collected under this jurisdiction, and remitted in the exact amount.  When the tax formally ends, the tax jurisdiction can either be updated, or adjusted with new dates and rates.

Add New Tax Jurisdiction

Click on the Add button.  A blank window will load on the right hand side of the screen.  Enter in the name of the tax jurisdiction, and the code if one will be used, then click on Save.

Then you can begin filling in the categories and dates.  

The tax categories on the drop down menu are the active categories from the Product Tax Category Setup tab.

Start dates and end dates must be consecutive for the same product tax categories and cannot overlap.  The end date cannot be before the start date, or you will see a warning appear.

Exempt Order from Individual Tax Jurisdictions

When a tax region is applied to an order, all jurisdictions within the region are automatically applied.  However, you can exempt the entire order from a single tax jurisdiction by clicking on the Tax Exemption button on the Order Management screen.

This will open up a window that contains all of the tax jurisdictions.  You can select the tax jurisdiction that will be exempted, and put in a comment as to why it is being exempted from the order.

For example, a county animal shelter may be exempt from local taxes on the entire order.  

Scroll to the bottom of the window and click on Save.  A confirmation will appear that indicates the tax exemption has been applied to the entire order.