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Learn more about: - Creating Tax rules for: Sites, POS, Utilities - Viewing Taxable Revenue & Taxes Collected - Reviewing Reports in Campspot - Making a reservation Tax Exempt
Creating Tax Rules
Tax rules allow taxes to be applied to reservations and other charges issued to your guests.
Tax Rules are set to tell the system to apply taxes to Campsite Reservations, Add-on Reservations, Locked Site Fees, Pet Fees, Occupancy Fees, and Reservation Surcharges.
Tax Rules are created by navigating to Rules > Pricing > Taxes > New Variation.
The clip below shows the New Variation tax rule form and the various fields that need to be completed to create a new Rule. To see step-by-step walkthroughs of additional examples of Tax Rules being set up, visit this link.
Note: The tax rate that you charge at your campground should be based on local or state laws. If you have questions, please contact your tax authority.
Click on any of the topics below to jump ahead to that section of this article:
- POS Taxes
- Utility Taxes
- Tax Reporting: Taxable Revenue
- Tax Reporting: Taxes Collected
- Tax Exempt Reservations
Creating POS Taxes
Taxes on items sold through Campspot's Point of Sale, are set up a in the Point of Sale page of the Admin Site. Taxes are created through Point of Sale > Admin > Taxes > Add Tax.
In the Add Tax form, follow the steps below.
- Tax Name: This name will appear on POS receipts and should clearly explain what it is.
- Tax Rate: Enter the tax rate in the box. The rate can be a flat dollar amount or a percentage of the POS item. Click on the percentage or dollar sign to indicate which.
- Associated Financial Account / Associated Deferred Financial Account: Select the financial account that the tax should be mapped to for accounting purposes. It will reflect on the Journal Entry report when POS items are sold.
- Exemptible?: Select whether you want to allow the tax to be exemptible or not.
Note: Miscellanous Charges get their tax rate from the set POS tax rate rather than from Reservation Tax Rules. In order to apply taxes to your Miscellaneous Charges, you must create POS tax rates.
Creating Utility Taxes
If using Utility Metering through Campspot, the first step in setting up Utility Metering is to create any taxes.
Taxes created through Utility Metering will be automatically calculated and added to the guest's bill when you add their utility charge. To create these taxes navigate to Utility Metering > Utility Taxes > Add Utility Tax.
In the Add Utility Tax modal, follow the steps below.
- Tax Name: Assign a tax name. This name will appear on guest invoices and should clearly explain what it is.
- Tax Rate: Enter the tax rate in the box. The rate can be a flat dollar amount or a percentage of the utility bill. Click on the percentage or dollar sign to indicate which.
- Financial Account: Select the financial account that the tax should be mapped to for accounting purposes. It will reflect on the Journal Entry report when utility fee revenue is earned.
Viewing Taxable Revenue
Taxable revenue in Campspot can be viewed through our reports. There are many reports available so it is important to understand which reports to use for financial reporting.
Some reports are useful for managerial purposes while others were designed specifically for financial reporting.
The following reports are the most commonly used financial reports for viewing taxable revenue (to report to your tax authority):
- Journal Entry (Cash Basis - excludes today)
- Journal Entry (Accrual Basis without Inventory)
The report you use will depends on the type of accounting your campground uses, either Cash Basis or Accrual Basis. When viewing the report you should add up the total of the accounts that are tied to taxable revenue.
You may need to use different variations of the Journal Entry report to meet your Tax Reporting needs.
Taxable vs Non-Taxable Revenue
If your campground does not pay taxes on all revenue earned, it is important to map taxable revenue and non-taxable revenue to different financial accounts. This mapping is done directly in Campspot and determines how all accounts are broken out on your Journal Entry report. To learn more about financial account mapping [READ HERE].
This important step of financial account mapping and splitting accounts by taxable and non-taxable revenue will help to ensure that you're reporting accurate numbers to your tax authority.
Viewing Taxes Collected
Like taxable revenue, taxes collected through Campspot can be viewed through our reports. There are many reports available so it is important to understand which reports to use for financial reporting.
The following reports are the most commonly used financial reports and should be used for viewing taxes collected:
- Journal Entry (Cash Basis - excludes today)
- Journal Entry (Accrual Basis without Inventory)
The report you use will depend on the type of accounting your campground uses, either Cash Basis or Accrual Basis. When viewing the report you will see all financial accounts and can get the total of taxes collected by looking at only the tax accounts.
Find more information on Cash vs Accrual HERE.
Mapping Tax Financial Accounts
Financial account mapping is an important step in ensuring that Journal Entry reports show the amount of tax collected separate from other accounts. Tax accounts should be mapped as follows:
Create a liability account for tax (typically named the same name as the tax) and map this newly created account as the Main Financial Account. The Deferred Financial Account should be General Liability.
The clip below shows the mapping of a tax rule.
To learn more about Financial Account Mapping [READ HERE].
Difference Between Available Tax Reports
A search of the word in 'Tax' on the Reporting page will return several results of reports that your campground may find useful. However, it is important to know the difference between the reports and the type of information you can get from each of them. As mentioned on the previous slides, Journal Entry reports should be used for reporting taxable revenue and finding taxes collected. The following reports also provide tax information and can be used as described:
- Tax Income: This report provides the amount of taxes collected by your campground over the specified date range. The numbers shown on this report are prior to any discounts being applied. For example, a reservation may have cost $100 and then had a 15% discount applied and the tax amount collected from that reservation would be prior to the 15% discount. Because of this, the numbers shown on the report are higher than what was actually collected. This report should not be used for actual financial reporting but rather to give an understanding of pre-discount tax collected. Note: this report does not contain POS taxes.
- Journal Entry Tax Rule (Accrual Basis): This report will show the exact amount of tax collected (on an accrual basis) over the specified date range. This number should match what is shown on the other Accrual Basis Journal Entry reports. This report is helpful if you would like to view taxes only without the other Journal Entry accounts shown.
- Journal Entry Tax Rule (Cash Basis): This report will show the exact amount of tax collected (on a cash basis) over the specified date range. This number should match what is shown on the other Cash Basis Journal Entry reports. This report is helpful if you would like to view taxes only without the other Journal Entry accounts shown.
- Tax Exempt Invoices: This report shows all invoices that were marked tax exempt over the specified date range. The amount of tax that was exempted for each invoice is also shown.
How to Make a Reservation Tax Exempt
To make a reservation tax exempt you should first access the Billing Tab through the reservation's Reservation Summary. Next, scroll down to the Invoice Details section and click the Tax Exempt box under the Order Total. The clip below shows a reservation total changing after making the reservation Tax Exempt.
For additional support, reference these Knowledge Base Articles: