Invoices & Taxation

On the Invoices & Taxation tab you can define the following:

• How to tax the customer for provided services.

• Whether to send statistics and invoices by email.

• What invoice template to use and how to enumerate the invoices.



 

Field	Description
Tax ID	Customer’s tax ID.
Taxation Method	No Taxation – Select this option if the customer is exempt from taxation. Avalara – Select this method to use the Avalara plug-in.Avalara – one of the largest tax calculation companies in the USA. Tax calculation via Avalara is done using the XML API. Your taxation configuration is stored within Avalara and all taxes are calculated by the Avalara middleware. EZtax (US, Canada) – Select this method to use the EZtax plug-in. EZtax is a software vendor that has US tax information in their library, in conjunction with PortaBilling. This ensures that proper tax calculation is applied to American and Canadian customers. SureTax (US, Canada) – Select this method to tax voice call services and subscriptions in the US and Canada. SureTax is another taxation system that allows you to accurately and easily calculate taxes for your US and Canadian customers. Fixed VAT Rate – Select this method when you need to specify a certain percentage of value-added tax. Custom taxation – This taxation plug-in is similar to VAT, but allows you to specify more than one tax and rate. NOTE: This option is only visible if at least one custom tax is defined on the Custom Taxes page. GST (Malaysia) – This plug-in handles the goods and services tax (GST) that was implemented in Malaysia in April 2015.
Send Statistics via email	Defines what kind of xDR statistics should be delivered to the customer by email after the billing period is closed: As defined by the Customer Class – Use the settings for the customer class. Full Statistics – Send a .csv file with a complete list of xDRs. Summary Only – Do not send a full list of xDRs, only a brief summary Do Not Send – This option prevents the delivery of event statistics to the customer via email. Note that these options only affect the delivery of xDR files by email. The actual statistics files will always be generated and accessible for download from the administrator interface or customer self-care interface.
Generate Invoice PDF	As defined by the Customer Class – With this option enabled, PortaBilling® uses the settings defined for the customer class. At the end of the billing period – With this option enabled, PortaBilling® processes the customer’s xDRs, applies charges (e.g. subscriptions, fees, etc.), creates a regular invoice and generates a .pdf file at the end of the billing period. Postponed, based on resource availability – With this option enabled, PortaBilling® creates a regular invoice and charges a customer’s credit card immediately. PortaBilling® begins to generate the .pdf files only once the calculations related to the previous billing period (e.g. xDR processing, statistics) for all customers have been completed. On demand – With this option enabled, PortaBilling® makes all calculations for the customer, creates their regular invoices and saves them to a database. These invoices are then accessible via API. However, the .pdf file will not be generated unless explicitly requested.
Regular Invoice Template	Defines the regular invoice template for this customer. Select As defined by the Customer Class in order to apply the regular invoice template defined for this class, and so avoid defining an invoice template for each customer specifically. Select Do Not Create Invoice to disable regular invoice generation for this customer. Choose the required invoice template from the list.
Out-of-Turn  Invoice Template	Defines the out-of-turn invoice template for this customer. Choose As defined by the Customer Class in order to apply the out-of-turn invoice template defined for this class, and so avoid defining an invoice template for each customer specifically. Choose Do Not Create Invoice to disable out-of-turn invoice generation for this customer. Select the required invoice template from the list.
Send Regular Invoices	Defines whether new regular  invoices should be delivered to the customer by email. As defined by the Customer Class – Use the settings defined for the customer class. Yes – Send regular invoices by email. No – Do not send regular invoices by email.
Send Out-of-Turn  Invoices	Defines whether out-of-turn invoices should be delivered to the customer by email. As defined by the Customer Class – Use the settings defined for the customer class. Yes – Send out-of-turn invoices by email. No – Do not send out-of-turn invoices by email.
Invoice Number Sequence	Select an invoice number sequence that will be used for this customer: Default – The default numbering sequence will be selected for this customer’s invoices. Individual for Environment – This customer’s invoices will have globally sequenced invoice numbering (throughout the environment). Individual for Reseller – This customer’s invoices will have reseller-sequenced invoice numbering. Individual for Customer – This customer’s invoices will have their own sequential numbering.

 

Other option on this tab depend on the selected tax method and are described in the following subsections.

 

Avalara (US, Canada)

 

Field	Description
Customer Type	Define the customer type of customers who use the services you provide. Select one of the following options: Industrial – These are manufacturing companies. Business – These are business entities that use the services for business purposes. Residential – These are customers that use the services for personal purposes.
Incorporated City Area	Define the customer location: Inside – The customer is located inside an incorporated city area; Outside – The customer is located outside of an incorporated city area.
Taxation Mode	Specify which additional taxes will be calculated for a customer. The objects that are taxed depend both on the Taxation Mode and on the VoIP Taxation configuration.   Select one of the following options: Non-switched Trunk Services – Tax is calculated based on the number of DID numbers a customer uses. Switched Trunk Services – Taxes are calculated for the number of customer sites and extensions and the number of an IP Centrex customer’s simultaneous outgoing calls.
Lifeline Program	Select whether a customer is entitled to a Lifeline assistance program.
Exempt From	Select which taxes this customer is exempt from.

 

 

EZtax (US, Canada)

Field	Description
Type	This field is used to specify the type of customer involved in the transaction: Default – Select this to apply customer class settings. Business – Select this when a customer pays taxes as a legal entity. Residential – Select this when a customer pays taxes as a private individual.
Incorporated City Area	This is used to specify whether a customer is inside or outside of an incorporated area that is designated as their location. Default – Select this to apply customer class settings. Inside – The customer is inside of an incorporated area designated as their location. Outside – The customer is outside of an incorporated area designated as their location. NOTE: Inner city tax jurisdictions are often based on postal code groupings. EZtax offers a service to define the correct US Post Office postal code using the customer's entire address.
Taxation Mode	This defines the taxation mode that helps apply relevant taxes for wide scale service. Non-switched – Taxation is applied based on the number of lines the customer uses. Switched – Taxation is applied based on the number of trunks, extensions and outbound channels that the customer uses. All of them may work in conjunction.
Exempt From	This designates which jurisdictional level of taxes are not applied to the customer: Federal Taxes – Taxes at the federal level are not applied. State Taxes – Taxes at the state level are not applied. CountyTaxes – Taxes at the county level are not applied. Local Taxes – Taxes at the local level are not applied.

 

 

SureTax (US, Canada)

Field	Description
Sales Type	This field is used to specify the type of customer involved in the transaction: Business – Select this when a customer pays taxes as a legal entity. Industrial – Select this when transactions are made at an industrial business. Lifeline – Select this when transactions are made by a customer granted a subsidy. Residential – Select this when a customer pays taxes as a private individual.
Summary Type	Default – Select this to apply customer class settings. No Summary – Select this to separately display federal, state and local taxes. Summary by Federal, State and Local Taxes – Select this to display federal, state and local taxes summarized.
Decimal Digits	Define number of decimal digits for rounding the taxes.
Tax Exemption	Click the Choose tax exemption button and in the dialog box select particular service categories to relieve a customer from taxes related to them.

 

 

Fixed VAT Rate

Field	Description
Taxes included into rates / fees	Select whether taxes are included in the rates so they are calculated correctly: Yes – With this option selected, PortaBilling® back-calculates the defined tax percentage from the total amount of charges or payments. No – With this option selected, PortaBilling® adds a defined percentage of value-added tax to the charges.
Assess taxes	Select when to apply taxes to customers: At the end of billing period for prepaid and postpaid customers – With this option selected, service taxes are calculated and applied at the end of the billing period for both prepaid and postpaid customers.   When taxes are included in rates, they are back-calculated from xDR totals for services, subscriptions and charges and are clearly marked on customer invoices.   When taxes are excluded from rates, taxation xDRs are created during statistics calculation and applied to the customer. At the moment of payment for prepaid customers and at the end of billing period for postpaid customers – With this option selected, when a prepaid customer or their debit account tops up their balance, the taxes are calculated based on the tax rate and top up amount:   When taxes are included in the payment, they are calculated and marked for information purposes only. Upon payment processing, the customer’s balance is increased by the actual amount ($10), excluding taxes.   Note that only those custom taxes that apply to All Charges will be calculated at the moment of payment.   When taxes are excluded from the payment, the total payment sum is increased by the calculated tax amount (e.g. a user enters a $10 payment to top up the balance, the system calculates the taxes and adds them to the amount entered, thereby increasing the sum total. The user is provided with full payment information: the amount entered, the tax amount and the sum total.) Upon payment processing two xDRs are created: one for the top-up amount and another for the tax. For postpaid customers, taxes are calculated at the end of the billing period during statistics calculation based on the tax rate and the amount of payment / charge.
Exempt From Tax	This defines whether customer is relieved from taxes: Default – Select this to apply customer class settings. Yes – Select this if the customer is not obliged to pay this tax. No – Select this to enable the usage of the Fixed VAT Rate taxation method.
VAT percentage	Specify a certain percentage of value-added tax.
Tax xDR Per Service	This allows you to calculate taxes per service (and respectively show them on invoices).   This option is applicable if you do not include taxes in your rates.

 

 

Custom taxation

Field	Description
Taxes included into rates / fees	Select whether taxes are included in the rates so they are calculated correctly: Yes – With this option selected, PortaBilling® back-calculates the defined tax percentage from the total amount of charges or payments. No – With this option selected, PortaBilling® adds a defined percentage of value-added tax to the charges.
Taxes	This displays the list of custom taxes.
Apply	Select the check box to apply the tax listed in this row.
Name	The descriptive name of the tax in the system (will be present in xDRs and in taxation configuration).
Tax rate (%)	A percentage value for this tax.
Applied to	This field shows which services this tax is applied to. Here select one of the available options: Usage Charges Only – All charges except for subscriptions and credits / adjustments. All Charges – Applied to all charges including subscriptions and credits / adjustments. All Recurring Charges – Applied only to subscriptions.

 

 

GST (Malaysia)

Field	Description
Relief Certificate	By default, the GST plug-in applies a 6% goods and services tax. If you have a relief certificate code that applies 0% tax for goods, specify the code in this field.
Expiration Date	Indicate when the relief certificate expires.
Goods	Select the goods that fall under the relief certificate with 0% tax.