Trouble shooting tips when my lease contract doesn't have Tax populating (On Stream or Upfront Tax)

Trouble shooting tips when my lease contract doesn't have Tax populating (On Stream or Upfront Tax)

This is not a comprehensive list of troubleshooting, as many situations may be very unique, but this should help you with a large majority of reasons why you aren't seeing your Tax populating.

PRE-REQUISITES:  Check these items first, if not populated you will never be able to assess or confirm tax
1.  Finance Product MUST exist on the contract
      a.  Finance Product provides a default Tax Product (Sales, Rental, Use, Exempt, Non-Taxable, VAT).
      b.  Finance Product provides a default Tax Payment Type (Tax on Stream Payment, Upfront Tax on Gross Payment, Upfront Tax on Equipment Cost).  
2.  Payment Schedule MUST be created, calculated and saved on the contract


If after both the Finance Product are populated on the contract and you have calculated the contract's payment schedule and you do not see Tax On Stream, it may indicate that the Finance Product is assessing Tax Upfront or it may mean that something else is interfering with Tax.  Check these places:
  1. Contract Explorer > Billing > Sales Tax Screen
    1. If Tax is Upfront (whether on Equipment Cost or Gross), you'll see an amount next to Total Upfront Tax a the top right of the screen.
    2. If Tax is Onstream, you'll see an amount next to Total On-Stream Tax
    3. If you see nothing, try clicking on the Calculator Button to force the screen to populate.
    4. If you still see nothing, check the Contract Explorer > Information > Equipment Screen
  2. Contract Explorer > Information Equipment Screen
    1. You will need to review these items for EACH INDIVIDUAL EQUIPMENT RECORD
    2. First review the Equipment Main Tab, at the bottom right of the screen, looking at the "Tax Exempt Status" section.
      1. If marked as Tax Exempt, that is preventing the individual equipment record from having Tax assessed
      2. If not marked, go to the next step
    3. Next, go to the Equipment Location Tab
      1. Does the Equipment Location have Tax Jurisdictions assessed (at the bottom)?
        1. Yes:  go on to the next equipment record or the next step
        2. No:  Click Modify next to the equipment address and assign the Tax Jurisdictions
          1. If CCH is licensed:  Click on "Validate and Assign" button
          2. If manually maintaining tax jurisdictions:  manually select the appropriate jurisdictions
          3. If Vertex O Series is licensed:  not applicable
      2. Is the Equipment Location marked as "Tax Exempt"?
        1. Yes: this is preventing the tax from assessing.  You would need a version of this location with tax assessed and not marked as Tax Exempt
        2. No: continue on to the next step
      3. PLEASE NOTE THAT IF YOU MODIFY AN ADDRESS FOR A CUSTOMER, it will modify that address on any contract(s) for this customer utilizing that same address and could negatively impact the other contract(s) using that address.  It may be best to go to the Account's Locations screen in Account Explorer, and make a copy of the location and indicate in the location name field that tax is applicable vs not applicable on the other location.
  3. Account Explorer > Account Main for the Primary Customer
    1. On the bottom right hand portion of the Account Main screen's Main Tab, look for the section for "Account Tax Exempt Status".  Is it marked as Tax Exempt?
      1. Yes:  This account is set up to not have tax assessed (Sales Tax, Rental Tax, Use Tax, VAT Tax) and this is why you are not seeing Tax assessed. 
        1. You need to confirm:  Is this supposed to be a Tax Exempt account?
      2. No:  This account should be getting tax assessed on its contracts, as long as the Contract Finance Product is set up to be Taxable for the jurisdictions where the equipment records are located.
        1. If this is the case, continue with the next step.
  4. Contract Explorer > Main > Financing and Adjustments screen
    1. On the Financing and Adjustments tab, is the field titled "Finance Upfront Tax" marked with a check mark?  
      1. Yes:  This indicates that even though you have tax being calculated, you are actually financing the amount of the UpFront Tax (whether it is UpFront on Equipment Cost or UpFront on Gross), and it will be included into the payment amount due in each rental payment.  It will have also increased the amount financed as you are financing the tax.
        1. Confirm whether this is supposed to be financed or not.  If not, deselect that box and go to the Payment Schedule tab and recalculate either the rate or the payment amount(s).  Remember - Deselecting this box will NOT change the tax to be OnStream, it will simply remove the financing of the Tax Amount.
      2. No:  Continue to next step
  5. Contract Explorer > Main     (THIS STEP WILL REQUIRE ACCESS TO ADMINISTRATION / CONFIGURATION SCREENS)
    1. Review the configuration of the Finance Product selected - maybe the jurisdictions on the Tax Product are not actually set to assess tax at all, or are assessing tax UpFront instead of OnStream as expected
      1. Once you confirm the Finance Product Title on the contract and have identified the Equipment Locations for your equipment record(s) on the contract, review the configuration of the Finance Product within Administration > Economics > Pricing > Finance Product and locate the Finance Product selected.  Review the following field values:
        1. The Finance Product's default Tax Product - this indicates the Tax Product being applied to contracts that have this specific product selected.  This assesses a default of Sales Tax, Rental Tax, Use Tax, or VAT Tax.  
          1. To see how this Tax Product is configured, review the following configuration:  Administration > Accounting > Tax > Tax Products.  There will be a Taxability Field which will indicate the true Taxability of the Tax Product.  There will also be an Exceptions button to show the various State Exceptions that may override the default setting.  This works in conjunction with the location of the Equipment Records on contract.
          2. Please double check with your Tax Administrator if something seems off.  Do NOT change this without their approval.  LTi Technology Solutions is not your Tax Administrator, we cannot provide Tax Advice or Tax Direction.
        2. The Finance Product's default Tax Payment Type - this indicates how the tax is to be assessed:  Tax On Stream, Upfront Tax on Equipment Cost, or Upfront Tax on Gross
          1. This is the default, but each state could have an exception to this rule.  Click on the Exceptions button to show the various State Exceptions that may override this default setting.  This works in conjunction with the location of the Equipment Records on the contract.
          2. Please double check with your Tax Administrator if something seems off.  Do NOT change this without their approval.  LTi Technology Solutions is not your Tax Administrator, we cannot provide Tax Advice or Tax Direction.
      2.  If nothing seems off here, continue to the final step.
  6. Administration > Accounting > Tax > Tax Exceptions     (THIS STEP WILL REQUIRE ACCESS TO ADMINISTRATION / CONFIGURATION SCREENS)
    1. This screen will let you know if there are any existing exceptions at one of three levels which may be affecting the tax on your contract.  The drop down at the top of this screen will display these three exception levels and anything that exists at that level.
      1. Asset
        1. You can create Asset level exceptions at this screen, or just review existing asset level tax exceptions which would have been built in the Contract's Sales Tax screen. 
        2. Exceptions are made to the individual asset/equipment record.
        3. If you see an Asset Level exception, you need to confirm whether it should remain in place or be de-activated.
          1. You may need to confirm with the Contract Manager (whoever approved the contract or input the data) or your Tax Administrator.  LTi Technology Solutions is not your Tax Administrator, we cannot provide Tax Advice or Tax Direction.
      2. Jurisdiction
        1. You can only create a Jurisdiction level exception at this screen, which is also where you go to review the existing exceptions.
        2. Exceptions created at this level will affect every equipment record that is located within this Tax Jurisdiction Code.  
        3. If you see a Jurisdiction Level exception, you need to confirm whether it should remain in place or be de-activated. 
          1. You need to confirm with your Tax Administrator.  LTi Technology Solutions is not your Tax Administrator, we cannot provide Tax Advice or Tax Direction.
      3. Location
        1. You can only create a Location level exception at this screen, which is also where you go to review the existing exceptions.
        2. Once a Location has been built into the system for an Account, it will be assigned a Jurisdiction.  However, you can create an exception so that any time this location is used for this account, it will follow a different set of Tax rules.
        3. If you see a Location Level exception, you need to confirm whether it should remain in place or be de-activated.
          1. You may need to confirm with the Contract Manager (whoever approved the contract or input the data) or your Tax Administrator.  LTi Technology Solutions is not your Tax Administrator, we cannot provide Tax Advice or Tax Direction.

If this still does not resolve your issue, please reach out to LTi Technology Solutions for further assistance in troubleshooting.

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