Biller Genie doesn't compute sales tax or maintain tax-exempt status — that's entirely your accounting software's job. This article explains how the tax on each invoice gets there, what happens for tax-exempt customers, and what to do when the tax on a Biller Genie invoice doesn't look right.
How sales tax actually works in Biller Genie
Tax on an invoice is calculated by your accounting software (QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, or Xero) at the time the invoice is created. Biller Genie syncs the invoice — line items, subtotal, tax amount, and total — and renders it as the customer's invoice email and as the hosted payment page. Biller Genie does not re-calculate tax and does not have an opinion about whether the tax should have been applied. Whatever your accounting software computed is what Biller Genie shows.
As a result, all tax configuration — tax rates, tax codes, taxable vs non-taxable line items, customer-level tax-exempt status, regional tax rules, marketplace facilitator settings — happens in your accounting software, not in Biller Genie.
Tax-exempt customers
"Tax-exempt" means a customer doesn't owe sales tax on the goods or services you sell them — typically because they're a reseller (with a resale certificate), a non-profit with a tax-exemption letter, or a government entity. Mark the customer as tax-exempt in your accounting software:
| Your accounting software | Where to mark a customer tax-exempt |
|---|---|
| QuickBooks Online | On the customer's record, expand the Additional Info section and set the tax exemption details (Reason for Exemption + Exemption Certificate Number). Save. QBO will not apply sales tax to new invoices for this customer. |
| QuickBooks Desktop | On the customer's record, go to the Sales Tax Settings tab and set Tax Code to a non-taxable code (typically "Non" or "Exempt"). Save. QBD will not apply sales tax to new invoices for this customer. |
| Xero | On the contact's record, set the Default tax on Sales to "No Tax" (or your equivalent zero-rate tax). New invoices for this contact will default to no tax. |
Once the customer is marked tax-exempt in your accounting software, every new invoice you create for them will sync into Biller Genie without sales tax. Existing invoices already in Biller Genie that were created with tax applied will NOT retroactively update — you'd need to void and re-create those invoices in your accounting software if you want them corrected.
Why there's no tax-exempt toggle in Biller Genie
Customers occasionally ask "I see there's a tax field in the invoice — can I just turn off tax on this customer in Biller Genie?" The answer is no, and the reason matters:
- Sales tax has to reconcile with your tax filings. If Biller Genie suppressed tax on an invoice that your accounting software thinks IS taxable, your books and the tax authority would disagree. Keeping the source of truth in one place (your accounting software) is what prevents that misalignment.
- Tax-exempt status is regulatory, not a UI preference. The accounting software is the right place to attach the exemption certificate number, reason for exemption, and any state-specific exemption details that the IRS or state tax authority will ask for during an audit.
- Sub-customer "Jobs" inherit from the parent in QBO/QBD if you've set them up that way — Biller Genie cannot reproduce that inheritance logic correctly, so reading it from the source is the only reliable approach.
If the tax on a Biller Genie invoice looks wrong
Because Biller Genie just renders what your accounting software computed, "the tax on this invoice is wrong" means the issue is in the source invoice. The fix:
- Open the invoice in your accounting software (use the View in QuickBooks / Xero link from the Biller Genie invoice if available).
- Fix the underlying issue: wrong tax rate, wrong customer (taxable instead of tax-exempt), wrong line-item tax code, etc.
- Save the invoice in your accounting software.
- Wait for the next Biller Genie sync (or trigger a manual sync from Add-Ons). The corrected tax amount will flow into Biller Genie and the customer-facing invoice will update accordingly.
If the customer has already paid the original (incorrect) invoice, you'll likely need to process a refund for the difference and re-invoice the correct amount. Don't just edit the original invoice — the payment record and the invoice become inconsistent. Process a small refund in Biller Genie via the transaction's Refund action, then create a corrected invoice in your accounting software.
Multi-state or marketplace facilitator tax
If you sell across state lines and need automated sales tax (economic nexus rules, marketplace facilitator handling), use your accounting software's native automated sales tax features (QuickBooks Online Automated Sales Tax, Xero Automated Sales Tax with Avalara, etc.) or a dedicated sales tax platform like Avalara or TaxJar that integrates with your accounting software. Biller Genie automatically reflects whatever tax those systems compute.