At a glance
The total tax (VAT, sales tax, GST) collected on orders in the period. The single-figure aggregate that pairs with Tax Analysis (the per-jurisdiction breakdown) and Tax Over Time (the daily series). For Finance: this is “gross tax collected”; subtract refunded tax (Credit Memo tax_amount) for “net tax owed”.
| What it counts | SUM(tax_amount) over orders created in the 30-day window. tax_amount is the per-order tax (sum of product-tax + shipping-tax). |
| API field | tax_amount, base_tax_amount, shipping_tax_amount from GET /rest/V1/orders. |
| VAT / tax treatment | The card IS the tax view. Includes both product tax and shipping tax. Toggle to product-only via tax_amount - shipping_tax_amount. |
| Shipping inclusion | Shipping tax included by default. UK shipping is taxable at standard 20%; some US states tax shipping (CA, NY, TX) and others don’t. |
| Discounts | Tax computed post-discount per Magento default (configurable via Apply Customer Tax). |
| Cancelled orders | Excluded by default. Cancelled-order tax shouldn’t appear on a VAT return. |
| Refunds | Not subtracted, the card is creation-time. Net-of-refund: subtract SUM(creditmemo.tax_amount) from Refund Value. |
| Currency | Mixed-currency display by default. base_tax_amount for FX-neutral. For VAT filing, always use base currency. |
| Channels | All Adobe Commerce sources. |
| Multi-store scope | All Store Views by default. Per-Store-View slicing essential for VAT filings (each Store View typically maps to one tax jurisdiction). |
| Time window | 30D rolling. Quarterly windowing useful for tax filing (UK quarterly VAT, US quarterly sales tax). |
| Alert trigger | None on this card directly. |
| Roles | owner |
Calculation
Worked example
A B2B+DTC merchant on Adobe Commerce 2.4.7. UK base, GBP. UK + US Store Views with Avalara for US. Period: 14 Apr 26 to 13 May 26 (30 days). Tax aggregates:| Component | Value | Notes |
|---|---|---|
SUM(tax_amount) (this card, default) | £142,800 (mixed) | combined UK + US, mixed currency |
SUM(base_tax_amount) | £156,200 | FX-converted to GBP base |
SUM(shipping_tax_amount) | £11,680 | shipping VAT only (UK; US shipping taxes only some states) |
Product-only tax (tax - shipping_tax) | £131,120 | for product-tax filing |
SUM(creditmemo.tax_amount) (refunded) | £8,420 | reversed VAT on Credit Memos |
| Net tax for filing (gross − refunded) | £134,380 |
| Store View | SUM(tax_amount) | Avg per order | Tax engine |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK Store View | £126,000 | £69.20 / order | Native Magento (20% standard, 5% reduced) |
| US Store View | $90,500 (≈ £72,400 at indicative FX) | $24.60 / order avg (varies by state) | Avalara |
| Window | Total tax | Revenue | Effective rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 Apr to 13 May 26 | £142,800 | £950,000 | 15.0% |
| 15 Mar to 13 Apr 26 | £128,400 | £870,000 | 14.8% |
| Change | +11.2% | +9.2% | +0.2 pp |
- Effective rate of 15.0% is the blended rate across UK + US. UK alone is closer to 20% on Standard goods; US alone is 6-9% depending on states. The blend reflects the customer mix.
- Effective rate moved 0.2 pp. Most likely the UK reduced-rate children’s-clothing reclassification on 12 Mar pulled the UK blend slightly down (more reduced-5% rates).
- Net for filing: £134,380. Finance should remit £126,000 (UK) − £6,800 (refunded UK VAT) = £119,200 to HMRC, and the equivalent net-of-refund US figure to each state via Avalara.
- Avalara reconciliation. Avalara’s Liability Worksheet for the same period should report the US-side $90,500. If Avalara reports less, some orders failed to commit; reconcile via the AvaTax tools menu.
- Cross-link with Total Revenue: revenue rose 9.2%, tax rose 11.2%. Tax growing faster than revenue suggests either (a) more high-tax-jurisdiction orders (US customers with new state rates), or (b) fewer tax-exempt B2B orders. Drill into Tax Analysis per-jurisdiction to confirm.
- Quarterly tax filing window: for the UK April-June quarter, this card configured to “Custom: 1 Apr to 30 Jun” gives the gross UK tax. Subtract refunded VAT from Credit Memos in the same window. Submit to HMRC.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
| Card | Why pair it with Total Tax |
|---|---|
| Tax Analysis | Per-jurisdiction breakdown. |
| Tax Over Time | Daily series; useful for spotting tax-engine outages. |
| Total Revenue | Denominator-of-context; effective tax rate. |
| Refund Value | Refunded tax to subtract for net VAT. |
avalara.tax_liability_summary | Avalara-side total; should match for US merchants. |
shopify.total_tax | Cross-platform reference. |
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in Adobe Commerce Admin:Reports > Sales > Tax with the date range matching the period. The grand total at the bottom should approximately match this card after currency-and-cancellation adjustments.For the order-level audit:
Sales > Orders with a custom column selector showing Tax Amount, exported to CSV; sum the Tax Amount column.For Avalara users:
Avalara Admin > Reports > Liability Worksheet for the period. The US-side of this card should match Avalara’s total to the cent (after subtracting failed-commit orders).Why our number may legitimately differ from Adobe Commerce Admin:
| Reason | Direction of divergence |
|---|---|
Currency. Reports default to base_tax_amount; this card default is mixed-currency tax_amount. Switch to base_tax_amount for like-for-like. | Material for multi-currency stores |
| Reports indexer lag. Reports use nightly aggregation. | Vortex IQ ahead by ~12-24h |
| Cancelled inclusion. Card excludes cancelled by default. Reports may include depending on filter. | Standard |
| Avalara commit failures. Reports may show locally-computed tax for failed-commit orders; Avalara dashboard won’t see them. | Per-order divergence |
| Time-zone, sync lag. Standard. | Minor |
total_tax = SUM(tax_amount) over orders in period
Component cards (self-consistency, not reconciliation):
adobe_commerce.tax_over_time(daily aggregation should sum to this card’s period total)adobe_commerce.tax_analysis(per-jurisdiction sum should equal this card)
| Card | Expected relationship | What divergence tells you |
|---|---|---|
avalara.tax_liability_summary | Avalara total ≈ this card’s US-side | Failed commits, rate-table drift, or orders bypassing Avalara. |
vertex.tax_summary | Vertex equivalent | Same logic. |
| HMRC VAT submission | This card UK-side − refunded VAT = Box 1 figure | Submission record. |
Known limitations / merchant FAQs
Why is mixed-currency the default? It makes the number look wrong. For trend visualisation, mixed-currency is fine, the shape of the chart is what matters. For Finance reconciliation and tax filing, switch tobase_tax_amount (FX-converted to store base currency at order time). The card supports both views.
Refunded tax isn’t subtracted, but I owe HMRC the net, what do I do?
For VAT submission: take this card’s UK-side total minus the UK-side creditmemo.tax_amount from Refund Value. The Vortex IQ workspace can pre-compute the net via the “Tax Filing” report.
Why does Avalara say I owe a different amount?
Three causes: (1) failed commits (orders that didn’t reach Avalara); (2) currency framing (Avalara is in USD; this card mixes); (3) different status filters (Avalara may include or exclude cancelled depending on its config). Reconcile via base-currency mode and ensure cancelled-handling matches.
My multi-store has zero-rated UK sales but tax appears on the chart, why?
Zero-rated transactions have tax_amount=0 per order; they don’t add to this card. If you see tax appearing for a “zero-rated” Store View, then either the products aren’t actually zero-rated (check product tax class) or non-zero-rated products are being sold on that Store View.
My B2B customer has a resale certificate, why is tax still showing on their orders?
The certificate either isn’t uploaded to Avalara CertCapture, or hasn’t been linked to the customer’s Adobe customer_id, or the customer is in the wrong Customer Group. Adobe Commerce only honours tax-exemption when the conditions match the rule. Customers > All Customers > [customer] > Account Information should show “Tax Class = Tax Exempt” and Avalara CertCapture should show an active certificate.
Why does today’s number stop updating?
Tax updates with each new order (which already happens every 5-15 min). If the number is genuinely stale, the OpenSearch indexer is probably running re-aggregation; wait one full refresh.
B2B with net-30 PO terms, when is the tax recognised?
At order creation. Adobe records tax_amount when the order is placed, regardless of whether the invoice is paid. So pending_payment orders contribute their tax to this card. Most jurisdictions allow tax to be remitted on the invoice date even for net-30 terms; check with your tax advisor.
A new tax rule was added mid-period, the rate effective from?
Magento applies tax rules prospectively. The new rate kicks in from the moment it’s saved in Stores > Configuration > Sales > Tax. Orders before that point retain their original rate. The chart will show a step change on the day of the rule update.
Why does the per-Store-View slice not sum to the combined?
Most likely a Store-View-less order (admin-created with no Store View). Adobe Commerce occasionally creates orders without a Store View if the admin form is not properly scoped. Filter to find these (Order State Distribution with Store View = “(unscoped)”) and assign them retroactively.
Can I see VAT separately from sales tax?
Yes. UK Store View = VAT; US Store View = sales tax. Slice per Store View, or per tax-engine source (native = mostly VAT for UK; Avalara = sales tax for US).