Tax rules incorrectly applied based on user login status

[meeven]

I used the discussion below (with some minor tweaks) to configure GST in my WHMCS install:

https://requests.whmcs.com/topic/gst-application-in-india

The problem is that the rules are applied correctly if the user is already logged in and then adds a product/service to the cart. In this scenario, WHMCS correctly picks up the State (Province) to which the user belongs and then applies the taxes separately as CGST (9%) and SGST (9%). 

However, if the user adds the product/service anonymously, the IGST (18%) gets applied and the cart flow proceeds to checkout even if the user logs in at that point by clicking on the 'Already Registered' button. This seems like a flaw in the system to me because, as per Indian laws, IGST only applies to interstate transactions (say, supplier is in TamilNadu and customer is in Maharashtra) and not intrastate transactions (both supplier and customer are in TamilNadu). 

I think it's fine that WHMCS assumes IGST when the order is added anonymously. But, once the user logs in by clicking 'Already Registered' or even creates the account at the part in the checkout, WHMCS should check the tax rules and modify them as SGST+CGST or leave it as IGST, as appropriate. Right now, this is not happening and can turn out to be a major legal headache down the road.

Edited November 19, 2018 by meeven
typo

[brian!]

4 hours ago, meeven said:

However, if the user adds the product/service anonymously, the IGST (18%) gets applied and the cart flow proceeds to checkout even if the user logs in at that point by clicking on the 'Already Registered' button. This seems like a flaw in the system to me because, as per Indian laws, IGST only applies to interstate transactions (say, supplier is in TamilNadu and customer is in Maharashtra) and not intrastate transactions (both supplier and customer are in TamilNadu). 

I think it's fine that WHMCS assumes IGST when the order is added anonymously. But, once the user logs in by clicking 'Already Registered' or even creates the account at the part in the checkout, WHMCS should check the tax rules and modify them as SGST+CGST or leave it as IGST, as appropriate. Right now, this is not happening and can turn out to be a major legal headache down the road.

this might be a topic where it's best served to open a ticket and get a response from Support, and keep on pushing for them to pass it up the food chain until its seen by the developer team.

out of the box, I don't think WHMCS can do what you want it to do (e.g for tax purposes, WHMCS won't knows the supplier's (your) State, only the Country) - so you're looking at WHMCS changing how tax is being applied (and with a v7.7 beta around the corner, now might be a good time to get the dev team thinking about this).

[meeven]

7 hours ago, brian! said:

this might be a topic where it's best served to open a ticket and get a response from Support, and keep on pushing for them to pass it up the food chain until its seen by the developer team.

out of the box, I don't think WHMCS can do what you want it to do (e.g for tax purposes, WHMCS won't knows the supplier's (your) State, only the Country) - so you're looking at WHMCS changing how tax is being applied (and with a v7.7 beta around the corner, now might be a good time to get the dev team thinking about this).

Thanks for the suggestion. I will log a ticket and see what the dev team says.

I am on the verge of abandoning WHMCS because of this as it can really cause serious legal problems.

[brian!]

11 hours ago, meeven said:

Thanks for the suggestion. I will log a ticket and see what the dev team says.

you may have to keep pushing until you reach the dev team - Support might either tell you it's a customisation and send you back here, or that it's a feature request and send you off to requests.whmcs.com - but you already know there are GST requests there, and I doubt one more vote will make much of a difference.

the trick will be to get the dev team to see it - if/when that happens, then it's a case of them deciding a) if any code changes are needed, b) if there is sufficient demand for such change.... to put it crudely, that effectively means how important are the Indian users and market to WHMCS... because off-hand, I can't think if these changes would currently be needed by any country apart from India.

13 hours ago, meeven said:

I am on the verge of abandoning WHMCS because of this as it can really cause serious legal problems.

totally understandable.

WHMCS are not the fastest developers (understatement of the year!), so i'm not sure any required coding changes would be added to v7.7 (unless it's already on their radar)... even if the beta came out today, you're probably looking at a month of dev/testing before a full release... after that, and assuming there isn't a v7.8, we then move on to v8 - but that's looking like it won't get a full release until closer to Summer 2019 now...

your only other option might be to throw money at it and get a developer in - I know there are GST options in Marketplace, but the main one is written by WGS and their reputation has been shot down over the last few months, so whether that's a viable option any more, I don't know.

there's Kian's Billing Extension addon, but I don't think that can handle state taxes in the way you want... though check with him to confirm because I suspect he knows more about tax & invoicing in WHMCS than just about anyone.

[meeven]

I reached out to WHMCS support and explained the issue in detail. It appears that, even though WHMCS doesn't show any indication to the user, it does calculate the tax rules correctly in the final step (when it checks for the State/Province to which the registered user belongs). I checked this with a user profile and was able to confirm this - the invoice that was generated, correctly applied the tax rules as SGST+CGST, although the cart checkout pages had kept showing IGST upto that point.

I asked if there was a way to show an interstitial page or message to the user along the lines of 'Applying tax rules based on domicile/state' and was told this isn't possible and pointed to the 'Estimate taxes' button, instead.

So, for now, this has pulled me back from abandoning WHMCS .🙂

[meeven]

On 11/20/2018 at 9:47 PM, brian! said:

your only other option might be to throw money at it and get a developer in - I know there are GST options in Marketplace, but the main one is written by WGS and their reputation has been shot down over the last few months, so whether that's a viable option any more, I don't know.

there's Kian's Billing addon, but I don't think that can handle state taxes in the way you want... though check with him to confirm because I suspect he knows more about tax & invoicing in WHMCS than just about anyone.

Yeah, I looked at the GST module by WGS in the market place many times. It seems to have almost everything I want, despite a few minor shortcomings. But, at $60 per annum, it feels like a rip-off. And, I noted with concern the downswing in user ratings over the past few months.

I will check out Kian's billing extension - thanks for the pointer.

[brian!]

7 hours ago, meeven said:

I asked if there was a way to show an interstitial page or message to the user along the lines of 'Applying tax rules based on domicile/state' and was told this isn't possible and pointed to the 'Estimate taxes' button, instead. 

that's been a long-standing (e.g., for years) issue with the correct tax calculations being done after the checkout stage.

you could add a message to the cart at any stage if you wanted to.

7 hours ago, meeven said:

But, at $60 per annum, it feels like a rip-off.

that might be cheaper than getting a developer in to reinvent the wheel if WGS have already done it... it's cheaper than Billing Extension, though that has a *lot* more features.

[mwchetan]

Hi Meeven,

We purchased GST module for WHMCS after that our issues were sorted. We were in the same situation when the GST was rolled out in India. Everything sorted by the add-on module and you can download the monthly GST report you want with few clicks.

 

[WHMCS Sachin]

23 hours ago, meeven said:

So, for now, this has pulled me back from abandoning WHMCS .🙂

Glad to hear that. 🙂

[meeven]

5 minutes ago, WHMCS Sachin said:

Glad to heat that. 🙂

I have to thank you for that, actually.😀

[meeven]

15 hours ago, mwchetan said:

Hi Meeven,

We purchased GST module for WHMCS after that our issues were sorted. We were in the same situation when the GST was rolled out in India. Everything sorted by the add-on module and you can download the monthly GST report you want with few clicks.

 

Hello Chetan, thanks for sharing your experience. I wouldn't mind $60 or even $100 as a one-time fee, but $60 every year seems over the top to me. And, I am concerned with the downgraded user ratings for the module in recent months. 

[mwchetan]

We are using it without any issues since July 2017. We have even customized the monthly GST report from WSG  which can be downloaded every month. Its better than the manual task or recruiting someone for this task 🙂