Tax Classes
Manage product and organisation tax classifications.
Overview
Tax classes categorise products and organisations for tax calculation. Signals uses two types of tax classes that work together to determine the applicable tax rate.
Product Tax Classes
Route: /admin/settings/tax/product-tax-classes
Product tax classes categorise items by their tax treatment (e.g. "Standard Rate", "Reduced Rate", "Zero Rated", "Exempt").
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Create | Add a new product tax class |
| Edit | Update name and description |
| Set Default | Designate as the default for new products |
| Delete | Remove a non-default tax class |
One product tax class must be the default. The default class is applied automatically to new products. The default tax class cannot be deleted.
Organisation Tax Classes
Route: /admin/settings/tax/organisation-tax-classes
Organisation tax classes categorise members by their tax status (e.g. "Standard", "Tax Exempt", "Reverse Charge", "Charity").
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Create | Add a new organisation tax class |
| Edit | Update name and description |
| Set Default | Designate as the default for new organisations |
| Delete | Remove a non-default tax class |
Organisation tax classes are assigned to members via the member edit form.
Tax Rates
Route: /admin/settings/tax/rates
Tax rates are named percentages (e.g. "UK Standard" at 20%, "Reduced" at 5%, "Zero" at 0%). Rates are referenced by tax rules rather than applied directly to products.
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Create | Add a new named rate and percentage |
| Edit | Update name, description, or percentage |
| Activate / Deactivate | Toggle whether the rate is available for use |
| Delete | Remove a rate |
Tax Rules
Route: /admin/settings/tax/rules
Tax rules map a combination of organisation tax class and product tax class to a tax rate. When more than one rule could apply, the rule with the highest priority wins. Each rule can be activated or deactivated without deleting it.
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Create | Map an organisation tax class + product tax class to a tax rate, with a priority |
| Edit | Update the class pair, rate, or priority |
| Activate / Deactivate | Toggle whether the rule participates in resolution |
| Delete | Remove a rule |
How Tax Classes Work
When calculating tax on a line item, Signals considers both the product's tax class and the organisation's tax class. The tax calculation engine resolves the highest-priority active tax rule for that class pair and applies its tax rate to compute the final tax amount. If no rule matches, no tax is applied.
The same resources are available through the Tax Classes API for programmatic management.