Tax Report

Sales tax / VAT / GST collected, broken out by jurisdiction, period, and filing requirement. Designed to match what you (or your accountant) need to file.

What it shows

Tax collected — total tax on paid invoices in the period
Per-jurisdiction breakdown — by state/province/region
Per-tax-rate — if you have multiple rates
Taxable vs. non-taxable sales — gross sales split by tax status
Exempt sales — sales to tax-exempt customers (with their cert IDs)

Filing periods

Default: monthly. Adjust to:

Quarterly (common for smaller businesses)
Annually (some states)
Custom

What you'd report

For most US sales tax filings, the report gives you:

Total sales in the jurisdiction
Taxable sales
Exempt sales
Tax collected

These numbers match standard state forms (e.g. California BOE-401, NY ST-100).

Tax rates by location

If you serve multiple jurisdictions, set up tax rates in Settings → Tax Rates:

Per state, county, city as needed
Combined rates (state + county + transit) calculated correctly per address
Auto-applied based on customer address (Business tier)

Exempt customers

For tax-exempt customers (non-profits, resellers):

Mark customer as Tax exempt with their certificate ID
Sales are recorded as exempt, not as $0 tax (important for audit)
Exempt sales shown on the report

Tax included vs. tax excluded

Common in EU/UK/AU — prices include tax:

Toggle in Settings → Tax → Tax-included pricing
Invoices show tax broken out at the bottom
Reports correctly attribute the included tax portion

Multi-tax (VAT, GST, etc.)

For non-US setups:

Configure your VAT/GST/HST rate(s)
Reverse-charge handling for B2B EU sales
HST splitting for Canadian provinces

Each region's tax model is supported.

Audits

If you're audited:

Export full tax report for the period as CSV or PDF
Drill into any line for the underlying invoice
Documentation auto-attached: invoices, payment records, customer info, exemption certificates

Auditors generally find HandyBook reports clean — they map cleanly to standard forms.

Filing your taxes

HandyBook generates the report; you (or your accountant) file the actual return:

Most US states accept e-filing
Some integration via Avalara / TaxJar (Pro+ tier)
Or just type the numbers from the report into your state's online portal

QuickBooks sync

If QuickBooks Online is connected, tax data syncs:

Each sale's tax shows on the matching QB invoice
Tax payable account in QB updates
Your bookkeeper can reconcile in QB without re-entering anything

Quarterly tax estimates (US income tax)

Beyond sales tax, the Reports → Quarterly Tax estimate uses your year-to-date P&L to project quarterly federal income tax estimates. Helps you set aside the right amount and avoid IRS underpayment penalties.

FAQ

Does HandyBook calculate tax for me? Yes — based on the rates you configure. We don't auto-detect rates by address (that's a paid Avalara/TaxJar feature on Pro+); you set the rates manually unless you've integrated those.

My state has special rules — does HandyBook handle them? Common rules (multi-rate, sourcing rules, transit district, exemptions) are supported. Esoteric rules — talk to support, often we can configure within the system.

What if I forgot to charge tax on past invoices? You can edit unpaid invoices to add tax (notify customer). Paid invoices can't be retroactively edited; you'd need to issue a follow-up invoice for the missed tax.

Are POS sales included? Yes — POS sales count and their tax shows in the report.

What about 1099s for sub-contractors? Different feature: Reports → 1099 Vendors. Tracks payments to sub-contractors and generates 1099-NEC forms at year-end.