Sales and purchase tax

Not every line is taxable, so Foreman tracks taxability per line. You decide which budget lines tax applies to, and the tax then carries onto the client records that come out of the budget.

Mark a line taxable or non-taxable

Each budget line has a Taxable column in the Estimating band.

1. Open the budget (Projects → a project → the Budget tab).
2. In a line's Taxable cell, click the checkbox. A ticked box means sales tax applies to that line on client records; an empty box means it doesn't. Hover it and the tooltip says what a click will do — "Taxable — click to mark non-taxable", or the reverse.
3. Save the budget to keep your changes.

Set taxability defaults by cost type

Rather than tick every line by hand, set the default once per cost type so new lines start with the right setting.

1. From the sidebar, open Cost Database and go to the Cost Types tab.
2. In an existing cost type's Taxable cell, toggle its checkbox. This change saves immediately. When creating a cost type, the form has a Taxable checkbox described as "Sales tax on customer invoices"; save it with the new type.

Unless a line has its own Cost Type override, its type comes from its cost code. A non-taxable effective type forces tax off for that line; a taxable type still lets you mark an individual line non-taxable.

Set a starting sales-tax rate

1. Open Organization → Settings and find Budget defaults.
2. Under Sales tax for new budgets, choose No sales tax or Fixed sales-tax rate.
3. For a fixed rate, enter Tax rate %, such as 8.875. Set Tax label on customer records to the label you want printed.
4. Save the organization settings.

Set an exemption or adjust a draft record

In a client contact, Exempt from sales tax sets the starting exemption for new customer records. Existing records keep their saved tax choices.

Sales-tax controls are in the Totals section of a draft client agreement or invoice's side panel. Turn Charge sales tax off to charge zero sales tax and hide the rate, label and QuickBooks code details. Turning it back on restores those fields with their saved values. When enabled, use Tax rate % and Tax label to change that record. Only its taxable lines are charged tax, and rates support up to four decimal places.

When the tax amount is zero, the document preview shows just Total, without a duplicate Subtotal or a zero-tax row. When tax applies, the subtotal and tax breakdown are available again, subject to the agreement's display settings.

When QuickBooks is connected and your role can read its settings, QuickBooks sales-tax code lets you select an available code or use QuickBooks automatic sales tax. The company setting is shown for older records that still inherit it. Complete sales-tax setup in QuickBooks before posting taxable records; Foreman shows which available codes are eligible.

Enter supplier purchase tax

On a draft vendor agreement or vendor finance record, use the Purchase tax row near the totals. Choose Amount to enter the supplier’s tax amount, or Percent to calculate it from taxable lines. You can change the printed purchase-tax label. Included in job cost shows the tax amount included in your cost.

The tax is treated as a cost you do not recover. When converting a vendor agreement to a bill, its tax choices carry over. Recoverable purchase tax and foreign tax accounting are not supported by this control.