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Organization Tax

Organization Tax acts as your organization's central tax configuration. Here, you define the complete tax rules that govern how you charge your customers, ensuring your store accurately collects tax according to the laws of the countries where you operate.

To understand how Orbit Resolve calculates tax, it helps to understand this hierarchy:

  1. Organization: The root of your business.
  2. Tax Policy: A global setting determining if the prices you show already include tax or if tax is added on top.
  3. Tax Regime: The overarching tax system for a specific country (e.g., India GST, UAE VAT, United Kingdom VAT).
  4. Tax Rates / Slabs: The percentage buckets defined by the regime (e.g., 0%, 5%, 18%).
  5. Tax Categories: Classifications that tie a product type to a specific slab and legal reporting code (e.g., "Prepared Food" mapped to 5% with HSN 9963).
  6. Products / Services: The items you sell, each assigned to ONE tax category.
  7. Checkout / Invoice: Where the final calculation happens based on all the rules above.

Your exact configuration must match your organization's actual real-world tax obligations.

1. Setting Your Tax Policy​

The Policy tab controls how tax affects your displayed prices. Orbit Resolve splits this into two completely separate contexts:

Storefront / e-commerce​

This controls what a customer sees when browsing your online store or physical menu.

  • Tax-Inclusive: The price you enter for a product is the final price the customer pays. The applicable tax is "carved out" backwards for reporting.
    • Example: A product costs ₹118 and belongs to an 18% tax category. The customer sees ₹118. At checkout, they pay ₹118. Your tax report will show a Base Price of ₹100 and Tax of ₹18.
  • Tax-Exclusive: Tax is added on top of your product's base price.
    • Example: A product costs ₹100 and belongs to an 18% tax category. The customer sees ₹100 while browsing. At checkout, an ₹18 tax is added, and the customer pays ₹118.

Accounting / invoices​

This controls how tax is represented on generated GST/VAT invoices and B2B statements. Business-to-business (B2B) transactions typically expect Tax-Exclusive pricing on formal invoices, even if your storefront is tax-inclusive. Having two separate contexts allows you to serve retail customers inclusive prices while generating legally compliant exclusive invoices.

Configure whether your storefront and accounting documents use tax-inclusive or exclusive pricing.

The "Lock — enforce org-wide" setting​

This setting can easily confuse administrators. It dictates whether specific projects (e.g., individual stores or brands) within your organization are allowed to override this pricing policy.

  • Unlocked: Projects can choose to ignore the organization's policy.
    • Example: The organization defaults to "Tax-Inclusive." Project A (a retail store) sticks with Inclusive. Project B (a B2B wholesale portal) changes its own project settings to use Exclusive.
  • Locked (Checked): The organization configuration is rigidly enforced. The project's own pricing configuration becomes read-only and is forced to inherit the organization's choice. No project or product can deviate.

Note: Changing the policy only affects future transactions. Past invoices never change; they keep whatever was charged at the time they were generated.

2. Regimes & Rates​

Navigate to the Regimes & rates tab to configure your core tax structure.

A Tax Regime represents the tax system used for a jurisdiction. Examples include India GST, Saudi Arabia VAT, or Australia GST. Inside a Regime, you define Slabs (the percentage rates, like 18%) and Components (the internal breakdown, like CGST vs. SGST).

The Regimes and rates dashboard.

When starting out, your list of regimes will be empty ("No regimes yet"). You have two ways to begin:

Option A: Start from country template​

A country template is a helpful shortcut that instantly seeds a common tax structure.

  1. Click Start from template.
  2. Select a country (e.g., India GST).
  3. Review the template details. For India GST, this will pre-load standard slabs (0%, 5%, 12%, 18%, 28%) and components (CGST, SGST, IGST).
  4. Click Apply.

Country templates provide a fast starting point.

⚠️ Important Warning: Applying a template does not guarantee legal compliance! A template is simply a convenient starting configuration. You must still verify that the rates match your obligations, and the entire structure remains fully editable after application.

Option B: Add regime manually​

If a template doesn't exist for your country, you can build it from scratch.

When adding a regime manually, you must fill out:

  • Name: A descriptive name (e.g., "Singapore GST").
  • Country Code: The 2-letter ISO code for the country (e.g., SG).
  • Registration Number: (CRITICAL) This is your statutory tax ID, such as a GSTIN or VAT Number. If you leave this blank, the regime will successfully save, but your store will not collect tax at checkout. Orbit Resolve's backend explicitly prevents collecting tax if the regime does not have a registration number on file, as a business cannot legally remit tax without one.
  • Active: If unchecked, the regime is disabled entirely and no tax calculations will run for it.
  • Primary regime: Marks this as your organization's main operating tax domain.
  • Notes: An optional internal administrative note.

Active vs Primary Regime​

  • Active: An active regime is "turned on." Yes, multiple regimes can be active if your organization operates and is registered in multiple countries. If an active regime is turned off (inactive), any products mapped to categories under that regime will immediately stop charging tax.
  • Primary: Making a regime "Primary" simply highlights it as the default/headquarters tax system. Only one regime can be Primary. If no primary regime exists, the system still functions normally.

Slabs and Components​

Once your regime exists, you must define its Slabs and Components (if you used a template, these are already done for you).

  • Tax Slab: The total percentage charged (e.g., 18%).
  • Tax Component: The specific breakdown of that slab based on geography.

Example: In India, an 18% slab is not just "18% Tax." If the sale is within the same state (Intra-state), the 18% is split into two components: 9% CGST and 9% SGST. If the sale crosses state borders (Inter-state), it is charged as a single 18% IGST component. Orbit Resolve handles this geographic routing automatically, provided you define the components correctly.

3. Tax Categories​

Navigate to the Tax categories tab.

Why do tax categories exist? You cannot directly assign "18%" to a product. Tax laws change. Instead, you create a Tax Category (e.g., "Aerated Beverages"), link it to a specific Slab (e.g., 28%), and assign your products to the Category. If the government ever changes the tax rate for beverages to 18%, you simply edit the Tax Category. All thousands of connected products update instantly.

A list of tax categories filtered by regime.

Adding a Tax Category​

To create a new category, you will define:

  • Regime: The parent tax law this belongs to (e.g., India GST).
  • Slab: The specific rate to apply. (If the dropdown says "No slabs defined for this regime", you must go back to the Regimes & rates tab and create a slab first).
  • Name: A descriptive label (e.g., "Prepared Food", "Software Services"). Keep this name about the goods, not the rate.
  • HSN / SAC Code: The statutory reporting code required by the government on invoices.
    • HSN (Harmonized System of Nomenclature): Used generally for physical goods.
    • SAC (Services Accounting Code): Used for services (like consulting or dine-in restaurant services).
    • You must obtain these codes from your accountant or government portal. Do not guess.
  • Description: An internal admin note explaining what belongs here.
  • Active: If unchecked, products using this category will not calculate tax.

Using Tax Category Templates​

Just like Regimes, you can generate standard Tax Categories instantly.

  1. Click Start from template.
  2. Select the Regime you are applying it to.
  3. Click Apply.

How it works: The template attempts to match standard categories (e.g., "Standard-rated") to the slabs you built in your Regime. If the template looks for an 18% slab, and your regime has an 18% slab, it creates the category successfully. If the matching slab does not exist in your regime, the category is skipped.

4. Project Locks (Organization vs. Project Tax)​

Orbit Resolve allows your Organization to house multiple distinct Projects (e.g., different storefronts or brands).

Navigate to the Project locks tab.

Control which projects inherit organization tax and which manage their own.

This screen decides who "owns" the tax configuration for a given project.

  • LOCKED (Default): The project is forced to use the Organization's Tax Regimes, Slabs, and Categories. The project's own Tax settings page becomes strictly read-only.
    • Scenario: Your organization is based in India. Project A is an Indian cloud kitchen. You leave it LOCKED so it correctly uses the central organization's India GST setup.
  • OPEN: The project ignores the organization setup and defines its own independent tax regimes and categories.
    • Scenario: Project B is a new consultancy wing opening in Dubai. You click Open up on Project B. The Project B admin can now log into their project settings and build a UAE VAT regime from scratch, totally isolated from the Indian organization.

What happens when you click "Open up"? When you open a project, all current product-to-tax-category mappings on that project are cleared. The products themselves are perfectly safe (prices, names, and stock remain intact), but they lose their link to the Organization's tax categories. The system requires you to build the new project-level tax categories and re-map the products. (The UI will prompt you to download a CSV backup before you confirm).

5. Complete Beginner Setup Guide​

If you are setting up Tax for the very first time, follow this exact sequence:

  1. Go to Settings → Finance → Tax.
  2. Step 1: On the Policy tab, decide if your Storefront prices should be Tax-Inclusive or Tax-Exclusive. Lock it if you want to enforce this on all projects.
  3. Step 2: Switch to the Regimes & rates tab.
  4. Step 3: Click Start from template and select your country to generate your base Regimes, Slabs, and Components.
  5. Step 4: Click Edit on your newly created Regime and enter your Registration Number (e.g., GSTIN). If you skip this, checkout will not collect tax.
  6. Step 5: Switch to the Tax categories tab.
  7. Step 6: Click Start from template to seed your standard categories (or add them manually using your accountant's HSN/SAC codes).
  8. Step 7: Go to Inventory → Products and ensure every product is assigned to one of your new Tax Categories.
  9. Step 8: Place a test order on your storefront to verify tax is calculating exactly as expected!

6. How Things Connect (Dependencies)​

Understanding how the system fits together is crucial for troubleshooting:

  • If a Regime has no Registration Number: The application specifically prevents tax collection. Your storefront will display orders as entirely untaxed.
  • If a Regime has no Slabs: You will be physically unable to create a Tax Category, because the category form requires you to pick a Slab.
  • If a product has no Tax Category: It will be sold untaxed.
  • If a Regime is inactive: All categories under it go dark, and related products stop charging tax.
  • If a Project is LOCKED: The project administrator will see an amber banner warning them that their Tax settings are read-only and controlled by the organization.

7. Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting​

SymptomPossible ReasonHow to Fix
Tax is not calculating at checkout at all.Your Regime is missing a Registration Number (GSTIN/VAT).Go to Regimes & rates, edit the regime, and fill in the Registration Number.
I can't create a Tax Category; the Slab dropdown is empty.You haven't created any percentage slabs for the regime yet.Go to Regimes & rates, select the Regime, and click "Add slab".
I clicked "Apply Template" for categories, but some were skipped.The template expects specific percentage slabs (like 18%) that don't exist in your regime.Check your regime's slabs. You may need to create the missing slab manually, then re-apply the category template.
My project admin can't edit their tax rates.The project is LOCKED to the organization.Go to the Project locks tab and click "Open up" for that specific project.
I want my storefront to show ₹100, but checkout adds ₹18 tax on top.Your Storefront Policy is set to Tax-Exclusive.Go to the Policy tab and switch Storefront to Tax-Inclusive.
An amber banner says I have "stale product mappings."You recently changed a project from Locked to Open, but products are still pointing to old organization categories.Click the "Clear mappings" button in the banner, then go to Products and reassign them to your new project-level categories.

Before and After Examples​

Example 1: Changing Policy

  • BEFORE: Storefront policy is Tax-Exclusive. A $10 product charges $1 at checkout (Total $11).
  • ACTION: Administrator changes Storefront Policy to Tax-Inclusive.
  • AFTER: The storefront price stays $10, but the checkout now charges $10 total (carving the $0.91 tax backwards). The customer pays exactly the sticker price.

Example 2: Opening a Project Lock

  • BEFORE: Project A is LOCKED. It uses the Organization's India GST setup.
  • ACTION: Administrator clicks "Open up" on Project A.
  • AFTER: Project A loses its link to India GST. All products in Project A have their tax category removed. Project A's admin must now log in, create their own custom tax regime, and map their products to the new setup.