VAT on modifiers

[Thj]

With VAT reduced to 5% on food and soft drinks, is there anyway you can allow us to allocate different VAT amounts to items in modifiers? 

[tranguyen]

Hi @Thj, thank you for reaching out! 

At the moment, taxes can only be applied to items and not modifiers. Can you let me know what your current setup/use case is? I can definitely have a look on my end here and share any workarounds that will help you manage the new tax rates as soon as I can. 

[Thj]

Hi Tranguyen. 

I'm not sure what you mean by what our current set up/use case is. We are a bar. We have gins set as items and mixers/tonics as the modifiers. I need to apply the vat to the mixers/tonics

[tranguyen]

Thanks for helping to clarify, @Thj! 

So at the moment, you cannot apply VAT directly to a modifier. However, if you have tax set up for your items, then the full price (items + modifiers) will be taken into consideration when the tax is calculated.

For example:

• Your drink is £5.50
• Your mixer/tonic is £1.00
• The total item price will be £6.50
• You have 20% tax set up on your item, so the tax will be calculated as 20% x £6.50, rather than 20% x £5.50

I've taken note of this and pass it to our product team as well so we can look to add a feature for applying tax to modifiers!

[Thj]

The problem is I need the mixer to be 5% not 20% vat in line with the government's reduction of vat for non alcoholic drinks. 

[tranguyen]

We're aware of the new guidelines and are working to adapt our systems to this. I've raised a ticket for this with our team so we can look into how taxes can be apply to modifiers separately from items.

In the meantime, a workaround would be to set up the modifiers as an item instead. That way, you will be able to apply different tax rates to alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. 

[Thj]

Hi. Is there any update on vat being enabled on modifiers? 

[tranguyen]

Hi @Thj, thank you for reaching out! I've checked in on the feature request but I don't have an concrete update to share right now. 

[namastewatford]

How can we add a different tax code for modifiers/add-ons?

e.g. to order a Gin+Tonic,

When I add Gin, I have option to add tonic-mixers as modifiers.. then I want to add 20% for Gin.. but only 5% for tonic mixer.

How can this be achieved without putting mixers as a separate item.?

[tranguyen]

Hi @namastewatford, thank you for your post! This has been flagged as a feature request to our team but right now we don't have any further update to give. 

[namastewatford]

Thanks for merging my query to this post.. 

However, if we can get some visibility on the feature request and any eta would be good.

this split VAT rate is introduced by government now.. and workaround to apply VAT as a separate item would be too much of hassle.. 

[Thj]

Any update on this thread?

[tranguyen]

Hi @Thj, thanks for following up on this! We currently don't have an update for when the ability to apply taxes to modifiers will be available yet, but I'll follow up on this thread when I have an update. 

[JGEP]

Is there more progress on this feature?
In addition to the example of alcohol and mixer tax rates differing, we have dishes that come with a hot or cold side option - but these should be taxed differently for takeaways. For example, a fish and chips meal faces 20% VAT but if the side was a cold option (like potato salad), then the side is exempt from VAT. What is the best way to configure this?

[Breffni]

Hi there, @JGEP. 

Thanks for checking in on this feature request. 

There haven't been any recent developments that I can share, unfortunately. 

As Tra mentioned below, if you have tax set up for your items, then the full price (items + modifiers) will be taken into consideration when the tax is calculated.

We'll share any updates on this thread as they come. We understand how this feature is important for many businesses, so thanks for sticking with us. 

[ibanezer21]

Heya, 

This feature would make my life soso much easier. The fact that it's missing is a major flaw limiting square's usability in my business.

Any word on progress on this front? I'm struggling to find a workaround short of adding hundreds of different items in order to add tax to them separately. 

Thanks!

[k_atie]

Hey @ibanezer21, welcome to the Seller Community! We don't have an update for this feature request at this time. But do keep an eye out, we'll be sure to announce any changes to this here, on the Seller Community. Let me know if there is anything else I can do!

[Thj]

The problem is, there is never an update. Do you actually follow it up or do you stick to a script? I brought this problem up 2 years ago and still nothing has been done. There are so many things, niggly things, that are wrong with Square. We bring them to your attention and nothing ever gets done. 

[k_atie]

Hey @Thj, thanks for getting back to me. I understand how frustrating this must be. 

Our team does take on board feedback like this when it comes to our products. But even the best feature requests often take time. Our team must take multiple different factors into consideration when improving our products to address their limitations. Check out this article on The Lifecycle of Feature Requests and The Seller Community, which gives an explanation of how Square takes on board customer feedback when it comes to new product features. 

Hope this helps.