Set up tax

When to use this

Use this page when you set up BloomBoard for the first time, when your tax rate changes, or when the tax on a proposal is not what you expected.

What you need first

An owner or admin login. Staff can see the tax settings but not change them.
Your country in Business → Business details. It sets the word BloomBoard uses for your tax. Your currency is set there too, not on the tax page.

How tax works in BloomBoard

Tax types are the rates your business uses, for example “VAT 15%” or “Sales tax 8.25%”. The name you give a tax type shows on proposal and invoice lines.
Category defaults choose which tax type each kind of line gets on new work: arrangements, decor and rentals, labor (your services), and additional items (your operational costs). A kind of line can also have no tax.
Each event starts from these defaults, and you can give one event its own tax.
Tax is worked out for each kind of line, after any discount, and then added up.

The word for your tax follows your location: Sales tax in the US and Canada, GST in Australia and New Zealand, and VAT everywhere else. A US studio sees Sales tax registration and Sales tax number.

Step-by-step walkthrough

Add your tax rates

Open Business → Tax & pricing.
Under Tax types, add each rate you use: type a name and the rate, then save it.
To change a rate, use its edit button. To remove one, use its delete button.

Choose the default tax for each kind of line

Under Category defaults, pick a tax type for Arrangements, Decor & Rentals, Labor and Additional Items, or None for a kind of line you do not charge tax on. New proposals and invoices start with these.

Show your tax registration

If your business is registered for the tax, switch on the registration (for example VAT registered) and enter your number. Your number then shows on your invoices, and the invoice title reads TAX INVOICE. If you are not registered, the title reads INVOICE.

Give one event its own tax

Open the event and its Proposal view.
In the money summary, open Pricing options (the three dots) and choose Edit pricing rules.
Open the Tax tab. Change the tax for a kind of line: Arrangements, Rentals, Services or Operational. The tab then reads Custom for this event.
To go back to your business settings, choose Reset to defaults.

A sent proposal keeps the tax it was sent with. To change it, make a revision.

Why the overall rate can differ from your rate

A proposal or invoice can show an overall tax rate, such as 5.3%, that is not the rate you set, such as 5.5%. That is expected when:

some kinds of line have no tax, or a different tax, for example delivery and setup charged without tax,
a discount lowers the amount the tax is worked out on,
the tax is rounded on each kind of line before it is added up.

To see the tax on each kind of line, open the event’s money summary, or ask the assistant “why is the tax 5.3% on this event?”.

Owners and admins can also ask the assistant to change a tax rate or the default tax for a kind of line. It shows every change on a card first, and Undo puts the old figures back. On a draft proposal, the assistant changes that event’s tax at once, without a card. It tells you the new total, and Undo puts the old tax back.