Settings > Taxation is where you decide whether BillHive calculates tax for you, and how. It replaces the GST settings that used to be under Preferences. For what GST looks like on invoices, see GST Invoicing.
The page has a tab for each region. India · GST is available now. US · Sales tax and EU · VAT are greyed out as Coming soon.
The Calculation Switch
Each region has one switch that decides who handles tax: BillHive or you. It is the only tax setting; everything else on this page is your registration and tax profiles.
- Calculated by BillHive: GST is worked out on orders, estimates, invoices and credit notes.
- Handled by you: BillHive does no tax work for this region. You work out and file tax outside BillHive.
BillHive calculates tax and shows it on your documents. It does not file tax returns: filing stays with you in both positions.
A badge beside the region shows its state: Active, Handled by you, Setup incomplete or Coming soon.
| Businesses that existed before this release | Start on Calculated by BillHive. |
| New businesses | Start on Handled by you. |
| Switching on | Needs a valid GSTIN. Without one you see “Add your GSTIN first”. |
| First time switching on | If there is no default profile yet, BillHive creates Standard GST at 18% with no HSN/SAC. |
| Where to change it | Only on the Taxation page. |
When Tax Is Not Handled
- Invoices are plain Invoice documents: no GSTIN, no place of supply, no HSN/SAC and no tax lines.
- Credit notes against an invoice that had no GST are plain too (as is a credit memo with no linked invoice). A credit against an invoice issued with GST keeps its GST.
- Invoices already issued keep their format.
- The tax fields on prices are hidden.
The India Cards
Registration
Your GSTIN and state. Changing either asks you to confirm: “A new GSTIN or state applies to invoices issued from now on. Issued invoices are not changed.” They are saved to the same business profile as Settings > Payment > Business profile. If you have no business profile yet, the card links you to it.
Tax rules
- The default tax profile.
There is no business-wide “prices include tax” setting. Each price chooses Price already includes tax (inclusive) or Add tax on top of price (exclusive); a new price starts on Add tax on top of price. An order line with no price behind it adds tax on top. Renewals, plan changes and cancellation fees use the subscription’s plan price.
How tax is split
This card is read only.
| Sale | Tax shown as |
|---|---|
| Within your state | CGST + SGST, half the rate each |
| To another state | IGST |
| Not in INR | No GST |
Tax profiles
A tax profile is a name, a GST rate (0, 0.25, 3, 5, 12, 18 or 28) and an HSN/SAC code (4 to 8 digits). Prices point to a profile.
- Create as many as you need, for example one per kind of service.
- Exactly one profile is the default for the region.
- The default cannot be deleted or archived until you make another profile the default.
- A profile used by any price cannot be deleted. Archive it instead. An archived profile keeps working on the prices that already use it, but it cannot be picked for new ones.
- A profile’s region cannot be changed.
- If you edit the rate or HSN/SAC of a profile that live subscriptions use, you are asked to confirm. The change applies from their next invoice.
Tax on Each Price
Every INR rate plan, add-on and charge price has two tax settings:
- Price already includes tax (inclusive) or Add tax on top of price (exclusive).
- A tax profile.
A price that adds tax on top must have a profile; “Default (name)” counts. A price that includes tax may leave the profile empty, and the default is used.
The form shows a live preview:
| Price | Setting | Preview |
|---|---|---|
| ₹1,000 at 18% | Add tax on top | Customer pays ₹1,180.00 (₹1,000.00 + ₹180.00 GST) |
| ₹1,000 at 18% | Includes tax | ₹1,000.00 includes ₹152.54 GST |
These fields are hidden for prices in other currencies, and when India is Handled by you. Products no longer have their own GST rate or HSN/SAC.
Orders With Mixed Prices
Each line of an order, whether plan, add-on or charge, is taxed by its own price’s setting and profile. One order can mix lines that include tax (inclusive) and lines that add tax on top (exclusive). An invoice that does shows the note “Some prices include GST; the tax shown includes the GST contained in those prices.”
Renewals, plan changes and cancellation fees use the subscription’s plan price. Invoices you enter by hand use the default profile’s HSN/SAC. For credits for mid-cycle changes, an invoice whose lines are all priced the same way is credited exactly what the customer paid; an invoice mixing inclusive and exclusive lines uses its overall ratio of amount paid to amount before tax added on top, so the credit can differ slightly from the exact line. See GST Credit Notes.
What Happened to My Existing Settings
When this release arrived, your earlier settings were carried over so nothing changed in what customers pay:
- Your old Default GST rate and Default HSN/SAC became the default profile, Standard GST.
- Each product that had its own rate or HSN/SAC became a profile named after the product.
- Every INR price took your old business-wide Price already includes tax (inclusive) or Add tax on top of price (exclusive) setting, and its product’s profile.
- Add-ons and charges took the profile of the plans they are sold under. One not attached to any plan took its own product’s profile.
- The old GST section of Preferences now just says “GST settings have moved to Settings → Taxation”.
- The old Default GST rate, Default HSN/SAC and business-wide Price already includes tax settings have since been removed. Their values live on in your default profile and on each price, and they can no longer be saved through the settings API.