---
title: "Understanding Tax Reports and Drilling Into Transaction Details"
description: "Overview"
canonical_url: "https://support.taxcloud.com/articles/understanding-tax-reports-and-drilling-into-transaction-details-DaG54aIVrZ"
md_url: "https://support.taxcloud.com/articles/understanding-tax-reports-and-drilling-into-transaction-details-DaG54aIVrZ.md"
---
# Understanding Tax Reports and Drilling Into Transaction Details

## Overview

TaxCloud offers reporting and transaction tools to help merchants track their sales and tax data. Two key reports are the **Consolidated Transaction Detail Report (Tax Report)** and the **Detail Transaction Report**. In addition to understanding what these reports show, you can also **drill down from a high-level tax report to the individual transactions** that make up those totals.

This article explains:

* The differences between the Consolidated Transaction Detail Report (Tax Report) and the Detail Transaction Report
* How returns from previous periods are handled in each report
* How to view the specific transactions behind the tax totals shown in a <DATE_TIME> tax report

## Consolidated Transaction Detail Report (Tax Report)

The Consolidated Transaction Detail Report, also known as the Tax Report, is designed to give you a high-level summary of the tax totals for a given filing period. Here’s how it works:

* **Purpose**: This report consolidates transaction data to provide an overview of the total taxes you owe for the period.
* **Returns Handling**: When a return from a previous period is processed, the negative transaction amount is reflected as a credit in the current period. This ensures that any tax adjustment related to the return is applied in the correct filing period, helping you avoid discrepancies when calculating tax due.
* **Simplified View**: The report rolls up data to give you the total tax amounts, which you would expect to see on a return. It provides a clean, consolidated view of your tax liabilities, making it easier for you to prepare and file tax returns.

### Key Features of the Consolidated Transaction Detail Report

* High-level summary of transaction and tax totals.
* Credits for returns from previous periods are applied to the current filing period.
* Ideal for filing your taxes, as it presents the tax totals that align with your returns.

## Detail Transaction Report

The Detail Transaction Report provides a more granular breakdown of your transactions, showing each transaction in detail, including original sales and any associated returns. Here’s how this report is structured:

* **Purpose**: This report gives you a complete view of all individual transactions during a filing period, including both the original transaction and any returns.
* **Returns Handling**: For returns related to transactions from a previous period, both the original transaction and the return are listed in this report. As a result, these transactions zero out, meaning the original sale and the return cancel each other out in terms of totals.
* **Detailed View**: This report does not consolidate or adjust returns in the same way as the Consolidated Transaction Detail Report. Instead, it aims to provide a comprehensive record of all transactions, making it useful for internal reviews, audits, or when you need to analyze the specific details of sales and returns.

### Key Features of the Detail Transaction Report

* A full breakdown of all transactions, including sales and returns.
* Both original transactions and returns from previous periods are included, effectively zeroing out.
* Useful for reviewing transaction details, internal audits, or research purposes.

## How to View Transaction Details from a Tax Report

You can drill down from a high-level <DATE_TIME> Tax Report to see the specific transactions that make up the total tax collected for a given state. This is especially useful for auditing and verification.

### Steps


1. From the **Tax Reporting** page, select the <DATE_TIME> period you want to view.
2. Choose one of the reporting tabs: **TaxCloud Member**, **TaxCloud Direct**, or **Merchant Responsibility**.
3. In the list of states, locate the state for which you want to view detailed transactions.
4. On the far right side of that state's row, click the **link icon**.
5. You will be automatically redirected to the **Transactions** page.
6. The transaction list will be filtered to show all individual transactions for that specific state and month, including details like **Order ID**, **Date**, **Destination**, **Sales Amount**, and **Tax Amount**.

### Why This Is Useful

This drill-down feature allows for easy auditing and verification of your tax reports. With one click, you can seamlessly navigate from a summary tax report to the underlying transaction data for any state, giving you full visibility into how your sales tax totals were calculated.

## Which Report Should You Use?

* If you’re looking to file your taxes and need a report that reflects the total tax due, the **Consolidated Transaction Detail Report (Tax Report)** is your go-to.
  * It simplifies the view by consolidating the data and showing the totals you expect to file.
* If you need to dig into the details of each transaction, especially when auditing or investigating specific sales or returns, the **Detail Transaction Report** is more suited to your needs.
  * This report will give you a thorough view of all transactions, including how returns and original sales interact.