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Set tax codes on invoice lines
Every invoice line already carries a tax code, imported from your accounting system or created for you by country default. Set an organisation or project default, or change one line by hand.
What you'll achieve
Know where an invoice line's tax code comes from and change it, at the organisation level, the project level, or on one line, without breaking the rest of the invoice.
You'll end up with: A clear default tax code at the organisation and project level, and the ability to correct any single line without guessing where the number came from.
Before you start
This example uses the draft invoice for Client Workshops created in Bill time on an invoice.
Start with the default, then choose exceptions
An invoice line doesn't wait for you to pick a tax rate before it has one. Monument resolves a tax code for every line the moment it's added, within the connection stamped on that invoice's office: it reuses the project's or organisation's preferred default if that code already belongs to the connection, maps it to a same-rate code in the connection if not, and otherwise falls back to the connection's own configured default, so a line never comes up unset. Northlight Architects never had to set anything up: GST at 10 percent was already sitting there as the organisation default the first time anyone opened Settings, because Monument creates a starting tax code automatically based on where the organisation is based. A UK or New Zealand firm gets the same head start with VAT or GST at the right local rate.
That default is a starting point, not a ceiling. Import your actual rates from Xero, QuickBooks or MYOB if you'd rather work from your own chart, set a different default for a project working in another jurisdiction, or override a single line by hand. This article covers all three.
Where tax codes come from
- 1
Open Settings and go to the Invoices & accounting tab.
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In Accounting, select the office tab if there are several offices. Click Add tax codes, choose the rates you use from the connected provider, then click Import selected. The imported codes appear in that office’s Tax codes list.
- 3
Without a connection, Add tax codes opens a form for a manual name and percentage. Imported codes keep their provider link; editing one changes only its name and rate.
Every tax code shows its source and rate. The default carries a Default badge; removed codes carry an Archived badge. Use Add tax codes to import more codes, Remove to archive a non-default code, and Restore to make it available again. Refresh from your provider updates already imported codes and archives codes missing from the provider. It does not import every available code.
Keep at least one active tax-free code at 0% and one active taxable code above 0%. The Tax codes list in Accounting warns when either is missing. This warning does not block you from editing or saving codes. GST Free and GST at 10% cover both in the example.
Importing from a connected provider doesn't remove the code Monument created for you, it just adds your provider's rates alongside it. Archive whichever ones you don't want offered on new lines.
Set the organisation default
- 1
On the Tax codes list in Accounting, find the rate you want every new line to start with.
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Click Make default on that row. Its badge switches to Default, and the previous default loses the badge.
When draft lines are affected, Monument asks whether to apply the tax code to them. Choose lines with no tax code to keep existing choices, or all draft lines to replace them. Choose Skip to leave existing lines alone. Issued invoices keep their stored tax.
Make default saves the choice immediately and offers this prompt when draft lines are affected. That prompt applies only to drafts using that connection. New lines resolve the appropriate code within their invoice office’s connection.
Set a project's own default
A project working in a different jurisdiction, or for a client who needs a different tax treatment, doesn't have to fight the organisation default line by line.
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Open the project and go to its Info tab, then click Edit.
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Find Default tax code and pick the rate this project's invoice lines should start with.
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Save. New lines billed against this project now default to that rate instead of the organisation default.
The dropdown shows the effective tax code by name. Leave it untouched to keep following the default. Selecting any code stores that exact choice for the project, even if it is the code already displayed.
Change the tax code on one line
Defaults set what a new line starts with, they don't lock it there.
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Open an invoice and click into a line to open its sidebar.
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Find the Tax code field and pick a different rate, or No tax if this particular line shouldn't be taxed at all.
Invoices raised before per-line tax codes existed calculate tax as one rate across the whole invoice. Add a new line to one of those older invoices and Monument assigns that line a default tax code, then switches the entire invoice to calculating tax per line from that point on. Check every line's tax code afterwards rather than assuming the old rate still applies everywhere.
Troubleshooting
- A line is taxed at a rate I didn't expect. Check its own Tax code field first, then the project's Default tax code on its Info tab, then the organisation default on the Tax codes list in Accounting. The line wins, then the project, then the organisation.
- An imported tax code won't go away. You can't delete a tax code that's in use, only archive it. Archived codes stop appearing as an option on new lines but keep working on invoices that already reference them.
- An old invoice's tax total changed after I added a line. That invoice switched from its single overall rate to per-line tax the moment the new line picked up a default code. Review every line's Tax code field to confirm it's right.
Where this fits next
Tax codes are one half of what a line posts to your books, Point invoice lines at a sales account covers the other. Both feed Sync billing to your accounting system, which is where either one actually reaches Xero, QuickBooks or MYOB.