WeSuite, a software manufacturer of management tools for technology sales and service providers, announced the release of its Location Tax Module. The tax management features built into WeSuite’s WeEstimate sales software offer functionality for calculating and including retail and use taxes in the sales estimating process. Options include annual and monthly tax rate table updates by U.S. city, state and zip code, or Canadian province and postal code.
Calculating and including sales tax within estimates during the sales process has long been a challenge most integrators wish they didn’t have to worry about. Changing State and Provincial tax requirements throughout the U.S. and Canada have made tax calculations and inclusion of tax on proposal presentations increasingly complex, adding a heavier burden of responsibility on a security integrator’s sales team.
WeEstimate, WeSuite’s security sales estimating software, includes tax tables with tax rates at the city, state/province and zip or postal code level. Tax calculation selections include: no tax required, selectable retail or use tax, and calculations can be made based on included material, labor and/or chargeable items (i.e. subcontractors, equipment rentals and other job costs) within estimates. The solution can even maintain tax rate data base on an on-going basis, making sure that updated tax rate changes are implemented immediately. This service is available for both U.S. and Canadian tax tables.
WeEstimate’s Advanced Tax Module, an optional system addition, enables definition of Tax Profiles assigned at the Customer level. The assigned Tax Profile automates default tax calculations when the customer is selected for use in an Estimate. Additionally, the Advanced Tax Module enables users to specify tax calculation and tax rate percentages within estimates on a line-by-line basis for included material, labor, chargeable items or test and inspection services, providing increased tax calculation flexibility and granularity per estimate.
Recently WeSuite worked with Paladin Technologies, a Canadian integrator, to develop the new Location Tax Module. “Consumption taxes pose a significant challenge for many companies as they navigate the variability of rules and regulations imposed at both the Federal and State/Provincial level. It was critical that our sales team had a software at their disposal that could automatically identify the applicable tax rates based on the location of the work quoted. This ensured both compliance with tax regulations by jurisdiction, but more importantly to avoid margin erosion that may occur due to omissions or errors from manual input,” says Darwin Lin of Paladin Technologies. “WeSuite was diligent in addressing our concerns throughout the development of the Location Tax Module. This new module provides us with many new features, but specifically includes the ability to automatically calculate consumption taxes both at the individual item level or through application to an entire quote. Under Canadian Consumption Tax Legislation, the requirement to charge tax may vary based on the products sold, or the application of such products on a job site. WeSuite was able to provide us with the flexibility to manually override the application of tax at the itemized level to ensure compliance in all scenarios. The new module also provides automatic real-time updates to the entire quote when tax rates are adjusted and/or individual prices are changed. Throughout the entire development phase, the WeSuite team was knowledgeable and supportive, and took the time to understand our unique needs to provide us tangible solutions. We are truly excited to launch these new features and are confident that these changes will drive key efficiencies, in both time and profitability, for our Company and those who use it in the future.”
The Location Tax Module allows definition of system-wide Tax Rate Groups applicable at the site address level, based on one or multiple data fields depending on the specificity of the tax percentage. For instance, a Tax Rate Group can be defined for the State or Province and can be further refined to a City within the State or Province, as well as a Zip or Postal code. Tax Rate Groups are configured as needed for locations and trigger automated display and calculation of applicable taxes, after inclusion of material and equipment, labor, or chargeable items on Estimates.
In estimates, after selection of the site address and addition of estimate items, applicable taxes auto-calculate and show line-by-line at the Bill of Materials, Labor, and Chargeable Item grids within the estimate. Users may also select or deselect the specific taxes to apply to all items or, on a line-by-line basis for materials, labor and chargeable items. Tax types and totals are visible as well to users in tool bars during estimate creation.
Definition and application of Input Tax Credits (ITCs) is another bonus in the Location Tax Module. ITCs be configured to apply to each tax type created in WeEstimate. This selection controls the addition of a tax burden rate to materials and is selectable to include the tax calculation in the sell price to the customer or, to be included in the material cost and not sold to the customer. The tax costs included in the material costs are also automatically totaled and summarized in Job Notes and can show on job summary reports.
“For integrators that need to be sure their sales teams are including the correct taxes on estimates, the Location Tax Module is quite comprehensive.” said Tracy Larson, president, WeSuite. “Missing taxes or using incorrect rate calculations can be costly expenses borne solely by the integrator. The Advanced Tax Module and Location Tax Module are great ways to control definition of tax profiles and automate inclusion of tax calculations that are often complex, without worry by salespeople.”
Visit www.wesuite.com for more information.
