How sales tax works in Riverr

Riverr handles sales tax differently depending on who made the sale. This article explains the three kinds of sale on an order, which one you are responsible for, and what Riverr records for each.

The short version

Every order involves up to two sales, and each has one owner for its tax.

Sale	Who charges the tax	What Riverr does
MyCart checkout (the buyer pays on your Riverr store)	You, as the seller of record	Calculates the tax at checkout and records it in Stripe Tax or Avalara
An order from Shopify, Etsy or another platform (the buyer paid on that platform)	That platform	Nothing. The tax is shown on the order for reference only
Your invoice to a seller for an order you fulfill	You, on a wholesale sale	Taxes it or exempts it with a resale certificate, and records it in Avalara (only if you connect Avalara)

You can see which tax engine handles each sale under Tax, then Sales tax.

1. MyCart checkout

When someone checks out on a MyCart store, you are the seller of record, even when the store belongs to one of your sellers.

• Tax is calculated from the address the order ships to and added on top of the products and shipping.
• Tax is only charged in states where you are registered. A buyer shipping to a state where you are not registered sees $0 tax.
• Each location is its own seller. An order fulfilled by your Missouri location is taxed on the Missouri location's registrations, even if another location of the same brand is registered in the buyer's state.
• Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and Oregon have no statewide sales tax, so orders shipping there are not taxed.

Which engine calculates it: Stripe Tax by default, on your connected Stripe account. If you connect Avalara and choose Use Avalara for MyCart, Avalara calculates it instead.

Where it is recorded: after the card is charged, the sale is recorded in your Stripe Tax report, or in your Avalara account if MyCart uses Avalara. If an order is refunded, the tax record is reversed too. That report is what you and your accountant file from.

Where the money goes: the full tax amount is paid out to you so you can remit it. Riverr never keeps any of it. You can review it under Payments, on the Tax tab.

2. Orders from Shopify, Etsy and other platforms

When a buyer checks out on a seller's Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, Squarespace or other store, that platform charged the buyer's sales tax and reports it. Riverr:

• Shows that amount on the order as Tax paid by buyer, for reference.
• Never charges it again, and never sends it to Stripe Tax or Avalara.

The same is true for your own store on another platform. If you sell on your own Shopify store, Shopify handles that tax. If you use Avalara for it, connect Avalara to Shopify directly.

3. Your invoices to sellers

When you fulfill an order for a seller, you bill the seller for the work. That is a separate sale, from you to the seller, and it can be taxable.

If you have not connected Avalara: no tax is added to invoices to sellers.

If you have connected Avalara:

1. Riverr checks the state the order ships to.
2. If the seller has an approved resale certificate that covers that state, the invoice is exempt.
3. If the state has no sales tax, the invoice is not taxed.
4. If you are registered in that state in Avalara, Avalara calculates the tax and it is added to the invoice.
5. If you are not registered there, no tax is added.

Each of these invoices is recorded in your Avalara account with the exact tax that was charged, taxed or exempt, including invoices for orders that came from Shopify, Etsy and other platforms. That way your Avalara reports and returns include all of your sales to sellers.

When you refund a seller:

• Item credit: when you refund a credit for an item removed from an order, the seller also gets back that item's share of the sales tax on the invoice. A return is recorded in Avalara for the item and the tax refunded.
• Cancelled order: when you refund the seller for a cancelled order, the refund includes any sales tax left on the invoice. The sale is voided in Avalara. If that month is already filed and locked in Avalara, Riverr records a return for whatever had not already been refunded instead.

Returns are recorded with the exact tax refunded, so your Avalara reports match the money that moved. If Avalara cannot be reached, Riverr keeps trying once a day.

4. Resale certificates

A resale certificate is for a seller who buys from you to resell. It exempts your invoices to that seller. It does not exempt MyCart checkouts.

How a seller submits one: from their account settings, under Certificates. They choose the certificate type, upload the signed certificate, and enter the permit number and the expiration date. If the certificate has no expiration, they have to say so; the date cannot be left blank.

How you review it: go to Tax, then Resale certificates. Approve it, reject it with a reason, or later revoke it. A certificate does not exempt anything until you approve it.

Which states it covers:

Certificate	States it can cover
The seller's own state resale certificate	That one state
Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) certificate	The SST states that accept that form
Multistate Tax Commission (MTC) uniform certificate	The states that accept that form
Another uniform form	The issuing state only

Some states do not accept another state's certificate, including California, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, DC, Illinois, Washington and Alabama. A certificate only exempts orders shipping to a state it actually covers.

When it applies: the exemption is decided when the order first arrives in Riverr, and it stays with that order. Approving, rejecting or revoking a certificate later does not change orders already received.

Renewals: the seller gets a reminder 60, 30 and 7 days before the certificate expires, and you are copied at 7 days. After it expires, new orders to those states are taxable again.

Avalara: if you use Avalara, approved certificates are also copied to your Avalara account, one per covered state, under the seller's customer record. When you revoke or reject a certificate, or it expires, Riverr unlinks it from that seller in Avalara so it stops exempting new sales. Past exempt sales keep their record.

5. Connecting Avalara

1. Go to Integrations and open Avalara.
2. Enter your Account ID, Company code, Environment and License key from your Avalara account.
3. Click Test connection, then Save.
4. Riverr asks Use Avalara on MyCart stores? Choose Use Avalara to have Avalara calculate MyCart checkout tax too, or Not now to keep Stripe Tax for MyCart.

Once saved, invoices to sellers are taxed and recorded through Avalara, and your approved resale certificates are copied to Avalara.

What Riverr sends to Avalara: your MyCart sales (only if MyCart uses Avalara), your invoices to sellers, the ship to address, and approved resale certificates.

What Riverr never sends to Avalara: the buyer's sale on Shopify, Etsy or other platforms.

6. Economic nexus: when you may need to register

Go to Tax, then Nexus (Business plan and above). This page tracks how much you ship into each state so you know when you are getting close to a state's registration threshold.

What counts: orders you have shipped, by the state they shipped to, on the day they shipped. Cancelled orders, drafts and production or stock runs are left out.

Which amount counts (items you credit back to a seller are taken out):

Order	Amount counted
MyCart order	What the buyer paid, without the sales tax
Order from your own store on another platform	The order total, without the sales tax
Order from a seller's store	Your invoice to the seller, without any tax on it

Resale exempt orders are left out of the retail and taxable totals some states use, but stay in the gross total. Each state decides which total it measures.

Riverr emails you at 80% of a state's threshold and again when you cross it. Crossing a threshold does not register you or start charging tax. You decide with your accountant whether to register, then add the state in Stripe Tax or Avalara.

Troubleshooting

Problem	What to check
A MyCart buyer was charged $0 tax	Are you registered in the ship to state in Stripe Tax or Avalara? Is Stripe Tax turned on for your Stripe account?
An invoice to a seller has no tax	Are you connected to Avalara and registered in the ship to state? Does the seller have an approved certificate for that state? If Avalara could not be reached when the invoice was made, it went out without tax and is not in Avalara.
A seller with a certificate was taxed	Does the certificate cover the ship to state? Was it approved before the order arrived?
A certificate does not show in Avalara	Is certificate storage turned on for your Avalara company?
A refunded invoice still shows in Avalara	A void only works before the month is filed. After that, look for a return invoice that starts with WR and references the original invoice.
The order shows tax I did not charge	That is Tax paid by buyer on the seller's platform. It is not your tax.