Sales Tax Reporting

CloudBridal tracks sales tax on every order and allocates it proportionally across payments. While CloudBridal is not a tax filing or accounting platform, its reporting tools can help you pull the sales tax data you need for quarterly or periodic filing. The right report depends on how your accountant wants you to recognize tax liability.

Understanding How CloudBridal Tracks Tax

When an order is created, CloudBridal calculates tax based on your Tax Settings — including tax rates, thresholds, and exemptions. The total tax on an order reflects all taxable charges: the merchandise itself, plus any alterations, additional work, additional fees, and add-ons — depending on how your store records those charges and whether they are configured as taxable.

When a customer makes a partial payment, CloudBridal automatically prorates the tax across that payment. For example, if a customer pays 60% of their order total, 60% of the tax is attributed to that payment. This proportional allocation happens automatically and is reflected in your reports.

Three Common Approaches to Sales Tax Reporting

Option 1: Tax Based on Completed Orders (Accrual / GAAP)

Under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), a sale is typically not recognized until ownership of the merchandise transfers to the customer. If your accountant follows this approach, you should report tax when orders are completed — meaning the customer has picked up their items or the service has been delivered.

How to run this report:

1. Navigate to Reports and select Order Financials under Sales & Orders
2. Set the Date Field dropdown to Completed Date
3. Set your date range to the quarter you are filing for
4. Click View Report
5. Look at the Tax Amount column for the total sales tax applied to each order

The total of the Tax Amount column represents the tax on all orders completed during that period.

Option 2: Tax Based on the Sale Date

If your accountant prefers to recognize tax at the time of sale (when the order is placed), rather than when the order is completed:

How to run this report:

1. Navigate to Reports and select Order Financials under Sales & Orders
2. Set the Date Field dropdown to Date of Sale
3. Set your date range to the quarter you are filing for
4. Click View Report
5. Look at the Tax Amount column for the total sales tax applied to each order

The total of the Tax Amount column represents the tax on all orders placed during that period, regardless of payment or completion status.

Option 3: Tax Based on Payments Received (Cash Basis)

If your accountant wants you to remit tax as you collect payments — meaning you report tax proportionally based on what you've actually received — the Cash Flow Summary report is your best option.

How to run this report:

1. Navigate to Reports and select Cash Flow Summary under Cash & Payments
2. Set your date range to the quarter you are filing for
3. Click View Report
4. Review the Net Tax card in the summary section

The Cash Flow Summary shows:

• Tax Collected — total tax received across all payments in the period
• Tax Refunded — total tax returned through refunds in the period
• Net Tax — the difference (collected minus refunded)

Because CloudBridal prorates tax across partial payments, these totals accurately reflect the tax associated with the money you actually received during the period.

How proportional tax works:

Each time a payment is recorded, CloudBridal calculates how much of the remaining tax to attribute to that payment based on the remaining balance. For example, on a $500 order with $40 in tax:

• First payment ($300): $300 is 60% of the $500 remaining, so 60% of the $40 remaining tax = $24 in tax
• Second payment ($200): $200 is 100% of the $200 remaining, so 100% of the $16 remaining tax = $16 in tax

This running allocation ensures that rounding is handled correctly across multiple payments and that the final payment always picks up any remaining tax, so the totals balance exactly.

Note: The Order Financials report also has a Total Tax Paid Amount in Report Date Range column that shows tax collected within your selected date range on a per-order basis. This can be useful if you prefer an order-centric view while still using a cash-basis approach.

Consistency Matters

When using these reports for tax purposes, it's important to use the same filters, date field, and approach every period. Switching between reporting methods — for example, using Completed Date one quarter and Date of Sale the next — can result in orders being double-counted or missed entirely. Decide on an approach with your accountant and stick with it.

Saving a Quarterly Tax Report

If you find yourself running the same report each quarter, the Custom Reports feature lets you save your configuration for quick access.

Plan Requirement: Ultimate

1. Navigate to Reports and click Build a Custom Report
2. Select the base report type (e.g., Order Financials or Cash Flow Summary)
3. Configure the columns you want visible — for tax purposes, you may want to hide non-financial columns to simplify the view
4. Set your preferred default filters (e.g., specific order statuses)
5. Give it a descriptive name like "Quarterly Sales Tax - Accrual" or "Quarterly Sales Tax - Cash Basis"
6. Click Save

Your saved report appears on the Reports landing page for one-click access. Each period, simply open the saved report, adjust the date range to match your filing period, and run it.

Updated on: 26/03/2026