Skip to main content

Calculate tax with Stripe Tax

Stripe Tax is one of the tax engines Traide integrates with, alongside Avalara AvaTax. It calculates tax rates automatically at checkout and records a tax transaction against the resulting order.

Marketplace tax is harder than single-vendor tax: one basket can span several sellers, each with its own tax footing, and shipping has to be apportioned between them before anything is calculated. The Stripe Tax integration handles that split for you.

What it covers​

  • Checkout. Line totals, the basket subtotal and the order total are calculated with live rates as the buyer builds their basket.
  • Per-seller shipping tax. Both marketplace-level and seller-level shipping are apportioned across the sellers in the basket, then taxed on each seller's own footing rather than being lumped together.
  • Tax transactions on orders. A completed order records a real Stripe tax transaction, so what you charged and what you report agree.
  • Refunds. Refunding a line reverses the corresponding tax rather than leaving it stranded on the original transaction.
  • Declined fulfillments. A declined fulfillment unwinds its tax the same way a refund does.

Connect Stripe Tax​

  1. In the dashboard, navigate to Settings -> Apps.
  2. Select Stripe Tax, then Reconfigure.
  3. Enter your Secret API Key — your Stripe secret key.
  4. Save.

Test mode and live mode​

You do not choose the mode yourself. Stripe determines whether you are in live or test mode from the secret key you provide, and the dashboard shows the resulting Live mode setting as read-only confirmation of which one you're in.

That means switching from testing to production is done by replacing the key: use a test key while you configure and verify calculations, then swap in your live key when you're ready.

Check the mode after changing keys

Because the mode follows the key, pasting the wrong one silently changes which Stripe environment your tax is calculated and recorded in. After saving a new key, confirm the Live mode value reads as you expect before taking real orders.

Switching between tax engines​

A marketplace uses one tax engine at a time. You can switch between the available tax plugins without losing the configuration of the one you're leaving, which makes it practical to trial Stripe Tax and move back if it doesn't suit you.

Was this page helpful?