AtlasAtlas is pest control software for companies that run technicians in the field, and it prints your invoices with the tax you set. This article explains why that tax changes from one state to the next, with two official examples, and where the software stops.
The problem, one visit, two tax answers
A bed bug treatment in an apartment and the same treatment in an office look identical to the technician. For the tax authority, they may not be. Charge tax where none is due and the customer pays too much. Leave it off where it is due and the company owes it anyway, out of its own margin, when the state asks.
Two states, two rules
| Texas | Florida | |
|---|---|---|
| Pest control on homes | Taxable | Not taxable, apartments, condos and their common areas included |
| Pest control on businesses | Taxable | Taxable, offices, restaurants, warehouses |
| Rate | 6.25% state plus up to 2% local | 6% state plus the county's discretionary surtax |
| When no pest is found | Still taxable | Not specified in the brochure |
The Texas Comptroller writes that tax is due on the total charged for a pest control service, additional fees included, even when pests are not found. The Florida Department of Revenue lists apartments, duplexes, residential condominiums and their common areas among the residential facilities where pest control is not taxable, and offices, warehouses and restaurants among the taxable ones. Lawn spraying is not taxable in Florida either way.
Worked example, a company in Houston and one in Miami
A company in Houston sets its invoicing location to Texas and enters the full rate that applies where it works, state and local together, since the total can reach 8.25%. Every invoice, home or business, carries the tax.
A company in Miami sets Florida and enters the 6% state rate plus Miami-Dade's surtax. The next job is a condominium's common hallway, which is residential, so the office unticks « Apply taxes » on that invoice. The one after is a restaurant, and the box stays ticked.
What each person has to know
- The owner decides the tax policy with the accountant, once, and checks it when the company enters a new state.
- The office sets the invoicing location and the rate in Atlas, then ticks or unticks taxes invoice by invoice where the state treats homes and businesses differently.
- The technician notes the property type on the job, home, apartment, office or restaurant, because in Florida that is what decides the tax.
- The customer, a property manager for instance, sees the tax line and the company's permit number on the invoice.
Step by step
- Check your state's rule on the state revenue department's site, for pest control specifically.
- Find your local rate, county and city, for the places you work.
- Set « Where you invoice » in Atlas to your state, then enter your full rate. Atlas leaves it at zero until you do.
- Add your sales tax permit number in your settings. Once entered, it prints under the total of every invoice.
- Handle exempt jobs by unticking « Apply taxes » on those invoices.
- Review once a year, since state and local rates change.
What Atlas automates
- The tax line on every invoice, at the rate you entered, with your permit number under the total.
- Gap-free invoice numbers, assigned when the invoice is issued.
- The PDF emailed to the customer.
What stays in the company's hands
- Knowing whether the state taxes pest control, and on which properties.
- The rate itself, state, county and city.
- Deciding, invoice by invoice, whether taxes apply.
- Filing and paying the tax to the state.
Atlas's limits on sales tax
Atlas fills in no U.S. rate, whether state, county or city. The rate is set once for the account, so a company working in two states corrects invoices for the second one by hand. Atlas does not file returns, does not look up rates by address and does not tell you whether a service is taxable. It takes no card payments either.
For the invoicing screen itself, see the invoicing page. Everything Atlas adapts for U.S. companies is on the Atlas in the United States page. And for the call that comes before the invoice, read how to fit an emergency call into a full day.