Go HighLevel Introduces Tax Zones for Manual Tax Configuration

TL;DR

Go HighLevel has released Tax Zones, enabling manual tax rate configuration by geographic region. Businesses that manage taxes manually should review this update to configure location-specific rates.

Who this affects

HighLevel has not confirmed who is affected by this update. This feature is relevant for businesses that manage taxes manually and need to apply different rates based on a customer's country or state. Automatic Taxes take priority, so users relying solely on Automatic Taxes may not immediately use this feature. Manual tax rates and zone rules apply only if automatic tax is OFF or unavailable.

What changed

Go HighLevel introduced the ability to create Tax Zones under Manual Taxes.

Businesses can now:

• Create Tax Zones to organize and apply user-defined tax rates based on a customer's country or state.
• Define geographic zones by grouping specific countries and states.
• A country or state can belong to only one Manual Tax Zone.
• Attach existing user-defined tax rates to any zone.
• Add up to 10 tax rates per zone.
• A tax rate applies at checkout if it is attached to both the product and the zone.
• If a region is not defined in any zone, all rates attached to the product apply without filters.
• If a zone has no tax rates, customers in that zone will not be charged taxes.
• Existing tax rates attached to products behave the same if no zones are defined.
• Automatic Taxes take priority over manual tax rates and associated zone rules.
• Manual tax rates and zone rules apply only if automatic tax is OFF or unavailable.
• Manual Tax Zones work alongside Automatic Taxes, with manual taxes as a fallback.
• Deleting a tax rate from a zone only removes it from that zone, not the primary rate.
• Tax settings are now organized into dedicated areas for Display settings, Automatic Taxes, and Manual Taxes.
• The Manual Taxes section allows creating and managing manual tax rates and organizing them into Tax Zones.

HighLevel has not confirmed any limits, plan gating, or rollout status for this feature.

Where to find it

This feature is located in Payments → Settings → Taxes → Manual Taxes.

How agencies will use this

An agency running an e-commerce store for a client selling digital products across multiple states and countries can use Tax Zones to manage complex tax regulations. For example, a client needs to charge 8% sales tax in California, 6% in New York, and no tax for customers in Canada, where they aren't registered. The agency would navigate to Payments → Settings → Taxes → Manual Taxes. They would create a Tax Zone for 'California' including only California, and attach an existing 8% tax rate. They would create another zone for 'New York' including only New York, attaching a 6% tax rate. For Canada, they would ensure no zone is defined or create a zone with no attached tax rates. This setup ensures that customers are automatically charged the correct manual sales tax based on their shipping address, provided Automatic Taxes are off or unavailable, without the client needing to manually adjust taxes per transaction.

Our take

This is a major update for agencies whose clients operate with manual tax calculations across different regions. It streamlines a previously cumbersome process for specific tax configurations, particularly as a fallback when Automatic Taxes are not in use or are unavailable. Agencies should assess if their clients' tax needs align with this manual configuration capability.