Working With Geocodes

Geocodes are identifiers comprised of numbers that identify the state, county, local county area, city, and local city area within a tax jurisdiction. This information is used to calculate the taxes associated with an order, based on where it is sold or shipped.

Use the National Sales Tax Database Maintenance screen to verify tax rates and split rates. Use this screen to determine what rates apply to customers. Only authorized users can create, edit, or delete geocodes; anyone can view geocodes.

Eclipse provides an update to this file on a monthly basis. The update includes all changes to tax rates throughout the country.

To create a geocode:

From the Maintenance > Tax, Duty & Exchange Rates > National Sales Tax menu, select National Sales Tax Database Maintenance to display the National Sales Tax Database Maintenance window.

From the File menu, select New, press Enter, and enter the new geocode.

In a standard geocode, the first 2 digits identify the state, the next 3 digits identify the county, and the final 5 digits identify the city.

Note: The geocode you enter should fall within the range of codes defined for the state.

In the Eff Dt field, enter the date on which this geocode becomes effective.

The Eff Dates display.

Enter the State, County, City, and Zip code to which this geocode applies.
To keep old rates before a geocode applies, use the Orders Entered Before Effective Date Keep Old Rates Through Invoice Date of field to select the appropriate date.
Use the following fields to designate whether there are county and city maximums and split amounts that apply to the geocode.

Field

Description

County Item (Y/N)

Indication whether the county maximum and split amounts apply to line item amounts (Y) or the total order amount (N).

Note: The setting in the Max/Spt field on the Taxable States window overrides this field.

County Max Amount

The maximum amount of a given line item or order total, as determined by the County Item (Y/N) field, to which county tax applies.

Use the fields in the bottom table to enter the tax rates associated with the geocode.

Field	Description
State Tax	State sales, reduced, and use tax for the geocode.
County Tax	County sales, reduced, and use tax for the geocode.
County Local Tax	County local sales, reduced, and use tax for the geocode.
City Tax	City sales, reduced, and use tax for the geocode
City Local Tax	City local sales, reduced, and use tax for the geocode.
City Splt Tax	Secondary city sales, reduced, and use tax rate to be applied to the portion of line item or order total, as determined by the City Item (Y/N) field, amounts that exceed the city split amount.

Note: The Use Tax column is included on this screen for informational purposes. Eclipse does not use the "use tax."

After you manually change the Reduced Tax rate, then the monthly database update routines no longer touch that field.

Save your changes and exit the window.

To edit a geocode:

From the Maintenance > Tax, Duty & Exchange Rates > National Sales Tax menu, select National Sales Tax Database Maintenance to display the National Sales Tax Database Maintenance window.

In the Geocode field, enter all or part of the zip code, city, county, or state abbreviation for the geocode you want to edit.

Update any of the fields, as needed.

Change any of the tax rates under the Sales Tax, Reduced Tax, or Use Tax columns.

Note: All changes are recorded in a change log. Overridden values are identified with an asterisk.

Press Esc to save your changes and clear the screen.

To delete an effective date record or a geocode from the database:

From the Maintenance > Tax, Duty & Exchange Rates > National Sales Tax menu, select National Sales Tax Database Maint to display the National Sales Tax Database Maintenance window.

In the Geocode field, enter all or part of the zip code, city, county, or state abbreviation for the geocode you want to delete.

From the File menu, select Delete.
Select one of the following:
Current Date - Deletes the effective date record only.
Current Geocode - Deletes the entire geocode.

The system warns you that your deletion cannot be reversed.

Click OK to delete or Cancel to return to the geocode maintenance.

To view a geocode:

From the Maintenance > Tax, Duty & Exchange Rates > National Sales Tax menu, select National Sales Tax Database Maint to display the National Sales Tax Database Maintenance window.

In the Geocode field, enter all or part of the zip code, city, county, or state abbreviation and press Enter to display a list of geocodes.

Note: You can view the geocode used for sales tax calculation from Sales Order Entry. Click the Totals tab and then press Alt-~ to display the geocode.

Select a geocode from the displayed list.
Exit the window.