Connecting TaxCloud to BigCommerce

The TaxCloud integration for BigCommerce provides a comprehensive sales tax management solution for your store, automating calculation, collection, and remittance across all U.S. jurisdictions

Considerations

• You must be on the TaxCloud Premium plan to use the BigCommerce integration.
• During the setup process, you can connect an existing TaxCloud account or create a new one.
• You need Admin access in BigCommerce to set up the TaxCloud integration, as you must be able to configure your order import timing.
• BigCommerce only allows for 1 tax provider per country/region (if you have another tax provider setup in BigCommerce for the same country as TaxCloud, the integration will not function until that's removed).

Before you begin

Complete the following steps before you set up the integration to ensure that it works as intended.

Set a Shipping Origin in BigCommerce

The BigCommerce Shipping Origin address is important for tax calculation. Make sure the correct address is configured in BigCommerce under Settings > Shipping.

Make sure your store prices are entered without tax 

To avoid double taxation, make sure that: 

• Prices in your BigCommerce store are entered without tax. 
• Your BigCommerce Store tax settings are set to Tax exclusive pricing. 

Configure your order capture timing

By default, TaxCloud imports BigCommerce orders only after they are paid. At that point, the order will appear as Completed in your TaxCloud account and will be included in your reports. For more information on which BigCommerce order statuses correspond to paid, refer to this article from BigCommerce.

If needed, you can configure BigCommerce to submit orders to TaxCloud immediately when they are created.

• This behavior is configurable in BigCommerce under Settings > Tax > Store Tax Settings using the Tax document submission setting.
• For most customers, we recommend the Submit Tax Documents at Payment Capture option. This will result in fewer orders that need to be returned in TaxCloud.

Look up Taxability Information Codes for your products

Taxability information codes (TICs) help determine the correct tax rates for each product you sell. Assigning the correct TICs to the goods and services that you sell allows TaxCloud to apply accurate:

• Sales and use tax rates
• Product and service exemptions
• Sales tax holidays

Use our Taxability Information Codes page to look up your goods/services. You'll need this information in Step 3 and Step 4.

Step 1: Install the TaxCloud app on your BigCommerce account

In your BigCommerce account:

1. Go to Settings > Tax.

   

2. Click Add tax service.

   

3. Select TaxCloud from the list of available tax services.

   

4. Follow the prompts to install.
5. Once installed, log in to your existing TaxCloud account or create a new one.

Alternative Path

1. You can still install TaxCloud directly from the BigCommerce Marketplace. Search for TaxCloud, click Install, and confirm access to your store, as shown below:

   

2. Confirm that you want to grant TaxCloud access to your BigCommerce store.

   

   3. Log in to your existing TaxCloud account or create a new one.

Step 2: (New accounts only) Complete TaxCloud setup

If you created a new TaxCloud account, complete these steps before configuring BigCommerce to use TaxCloud. You can access your account directly at https://app.taxcloud.com or within BigCommerce under Apps > My Apps.

1. Complete your TaxCloud Business Profile.
2. Set up your locations and states.

Step 3: Configure BigCommerce to use TaxCloud for tax calculation

Configure BigCommerce to use TaxCloud for sales tax calculations.

1. In BigCommerce, go to Settings > Setup > Tax. 

2. Next to TaxCloud Simple Sales Tax, click Edit.

   

3a: Enable Provider Targeting

Under Provider targeting, configure BigCommerce to use TaxCloud for tax calculations instead of BigCommerce basic tax rules.

1. Select One or more countries.
2. Under Country, enable United States.
3. Click Save.

3b: Send transactions to TaxCloud

Under Provider options, enable the checkbox to submit completed transactions to TaxCloud.

If your transactions move into another integration with TaxCloud, do not select this option as it will result in duplicate transactions.

When sending transactions to TaxCloud either for testing or live use, remember that:

• Lookups occur when tax is calculated at checkout but the order has not yet shipped.
• Captures occur when the order is created or paid, depending on your BigCommerce configuration.

3c: Set Taxability Information Codes

Under Provider options, configure Taxability Information Code (TIC) fields so that TaxCloud can identify and properly tax items. You can look up TaxCloud’s TICs here.

Configure the tax code fields as described in the following table. When you’re finished, click Save.

3d: Test the connection to TaxCloud

Click Test Connection to verify that BigCommerce can communicate with TaxCloud.

If the connection fails:

• Make sure that your TaxCloud account is set up and on an active free trial or paid Premium plan. 
• Confirm your BigCommerce tax provider settings.

If you need help, contact TaxCloud Support.

Step 4: Add taxability information to your products

Taxability information codes (TICs) help determine the correct tax rates for each product you sell. Assigning the correct TICs to the goods and services that you sell allows TaxCloud to apply accurate:

• Sales and use tax rates
• Product and service exemptions
• Sales tax holidays

4a: Look up TICs for your products

Use our Taxability Information Codes page to look up your goods/services.

4b: Set TICs in your BigCommerce product catalog

There are two ways to set TICs on products in BigCommerce.

Edit the product in the BigCommerce UI

You can individually edit each product to add the appropriate TIC:

1. Edit the product.
2. Add the TIC to the Tax Provider Tax Code field.

Bulk Edit via CSV

Use the BigCommerce legacy product Import/Export tool to set TICs for multiple products.

Step 5: Send a test order

After you finish setting up the integration, it’s a good idea to send a test order from BigCommerce to make sure the transaction appears in TaxCloud and taxes are calculated as expected.

1. Follow these instructions to send a test order from BigCommerce.
2. Confirm that the TaxCloud Lookup was successful at checkout (this means tax was calculated correctly).
3. In BigCommerce, update the order to a status that is paid See BigCommerce order statuses for details.
4. Verify that the transaction appeared in TaxCloud.
   1. In TaxCloud, go to Stores.
   2. Next to your BigCommerce store, click GET DETAILS.
   3. Click View Transactions.
   4. Locate the test transaction. Click the transaction to view more details. You should see both the Lookup entry (when tax was first calculated) and the Captured (completed) order entry (after it was shipped).

Step 6: Set the BigCommerce connection live

After you’re done testing, you can set the connection live in TaxCloud. After this point, all captured transactions are included in reporting and tax remittance. 

1. In TaxCloud, go to the Integrations page.

2. Click the BigCommerce connection.

   

3. In the top-right corner of the page, click Go Live.

   

4. Confirm that you want to go live.

That’s it – TaxCloud is set up to handle your tax calculations for your BigCommerce store.

Next Steps: Marking customers exempt

If you have exempt customers, see our article on marking them exempt in BigCommerce.