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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
Every line already has a tax code, you just haven't looked
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, falling back from the line itself, to the project it's billed against, to your organisation's default. 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
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Open Settings and go to the Integrations tab.
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Find the Tax codes card. If you're connected to Xero, QuickBooks or MYOB, click Import from Xero (or whichever system you're connected to) to pull in your real rates.
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Without a connection, or alongside an import, click Create to add a rate by hand: a name, a percentage, and an optional link to a provider code.
Every tax code in the list shows whether it's Manual or tied to a provider, and whether it's Active or Archived. Codes imported from your accounting system stay in step with it: import again after adding a new rate there and the list picks it up.
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
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On the Tax codes card, 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.
This is the fallback every line reaches for when nothing more specific applies, a project default or a line-level pick.
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.
Leave it on Organization default and the project simply inherits whatever the organisation default is at the time, including any later change to that default.
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 card. 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.