VAT and GST

Klaudius puts tax on your invoices and quotes the way you tell it to. It prints the label, rate and registration number you give it; it doesn't decide whether you need to charge tax, or how much. If you're unsure, check with an accountant before your first invoice.

Without Stripe Tax

On your first invoice, Klaudius asks whether you charge tax, framed for your country (VAT in the UK, GST in Australia, and so on). If you're not registered, your invoices show no tax line. If you are, it stores the label, the rate and your registration number, and every invoice shows subtotal, tax and total.

By default it treats the price you pitched as including tax, splits the tax out, and tells you it did. In Switzerland, Austria and Germany, where business prices are usually quoted before tax, it says which it assumed and asks you to correct it if needed. A quote with a tax line always states whether its prices include tax.

For a client in another country, it doesn't apply your rate automatically: it shows the totals with your rate and with no tax line, and asks which this invoice takes, plus any note you want printed under the totals.

With Stripe Tax

If you're registered for VAT or GST and have Stripe Tax set up, say "use Stripe Tax". Your prices then count as before tax, and Stripe works out each client's tax from their country and VAT number, including the reverse charge for businesses abroad. Invoices and quotes show Stripe's figures, with the client's VAT number and a reverse-charge note when it applies, and monthly fees have the tax added to every charge. Each invoice is recorded as a sale in your Stripe Tax reports, and reversed there if you cancel it.

Setting it up

1. Connect Stripe if you haven't already.
2. In Stripe, set up Stripe Tax at https://dashboard.stripe.com/settings/tax: your head office, and a registration for each place you collect tax. Stripe adds tax only where you have a registration.
3. Edit your restricted key at https://dashboard.stripe.com/apikeys and add two permissions: Write on Tax Calculations, Transactions, and Read on Tax Settings, Registrations.
4. Say "use Stripe Tax" to Klaudius. It checks the key and tells you if Stripe Tax isn't ready yet.

Klaudius then confirms that every price is now before tax, asks whether your pitches should say "+ VAT" and in which countries, and updates your pricing wording. Builds are taxed as website design and monthly fees as website hosting; ask Klaudius to change the category if your accountant says another fits better.

Client VAT numbers

Tell Klaudius a client's VAT number ("Acme's VAT number is IE1234567T"), or give it when Klaudius asks while invoicing a VAT-registered business. If the tax authority doesn't recognise the number, the next follow-up round tells you and names any reverse-charge invoice that relied on it; check the number with the client.

If you agreed a price including tax before switching Stripe Tax on, Klaudius points that out when invoicing and asks what to invoice before tax.

Turning it off

Say "turn Stripe Tax off". New invoices go back to your own tax label and rate; a monthly fee already set up keeps Stripe Tax until you replace it. Stripe's own fees apply to what you use through it, and Klaudius charges no fee on any of this.