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In the dashboard: Business Tools → Services & Fees → Edit a service → Taxes

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How tax works in Hive

  • Tax is set on each main service, not for the whole company. Add it to every service you charge tax on.
  • The tax covers the whole order of an inspection with that service: the base price, add-ons, modifiers, the urgent surcharge and lines you add yourself. Add-ons have no tax of their own.
  • Each tax is a percentage, such as Sales Tax 6.25%. A service can have several taxes, such as a state tax and a county tax.
  • Tax is worked out by Hive whenever the price of an inspection is calculated, and shows as its own line.

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Add a tax to a service

1

Open the service

Click Business Tools in the sidebar, then Services & Fees. Click the pencil icon on the service, or Add New Service to make a new one.
2

Click Add Tax

Scroll to Taxes at the bottom of the page and click Add Tax. The taxes the service already has are listed here.The Taxes card: Configure taxes that will be applied as a percentage of the service total. One tax is listed, Sales Tax 6.25%, with edit and delete icons, and there are Add Tax buttons at the top and bottom
3

Name the tax and enter the percentage

The Add New Tax dialog: Configure a tax that will be applied to this service. Tax Name County Tax, Percentage 1.5 percent, and the buttons Add Tax and CancelClick Add Tax.
4

Check it saved

On a service you are editing, the change saves on its own a moment later, and the Service Preview on the right lists the tax under Taxes. On a new service, click Save Service at the bottom of the page.
To change a tax, click its pencil icon. To remove it, click the trash icon and confirm.
Hive keeps two decimal places, so a rate of 8.875% is saved as 8.88%.

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What the tax is charged on

Hive adds up every line of the order before tax and charges the tax on that total:
  • the main service’s base price
  • its modifiers, such as square footage or distance
  • add-ons and their modifiers
  • the urgent request surcharge
  • lines your team adds with Edit Price or Duration, such as a trip fee
Discount codes come off before the tax is worked out, so the client never pays tax on money taken off. See Discount codes and tax. Each tax is rounded to the cent.

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Example

Home Inspection $400, square footage $75, Radon Testing $150, and a 6.25% Sales Tax:

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Several taxes on one service

Each tax is charged on the same total before tax. Taxes aren’t charged on each other. For example, a State Tax of 4% and a County Tax of 1.5% on a $500 order are $20.00 and $7.50, so the total is $527.50.

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Where tax shows

The Pricing Summary on the inspection shows each tax as its own line, marked tax, after all the other lines. The Total includes it.The Pricing Summary of an inspection: Home Inspection base $400.00 3 hrs, Radon Testing x 2 addon $300.00, Radon Testing: Number of Units modifier $100.00, Sewer Scope addon $175.00 1 hr, Square Feet modifier $75.00 30 min, Number of Units modifier $150.00 1 hr, Sales Tax tax $75.00, and a Total of $1,275.00 and 5.50 hrsThe tax isn’t part of inspector pay splits: payouts are based on the services billed before tax.

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Inspections that are already booked

  • Changing a tax in Services & Fees doesn’t change booked inspections on its own. They keep the tax they were booked with.
  • Tax always follows the total. When your team edits a price, removes a line or adds a line on an inspection, the tax is worked out again on the new total.
  • When the order changes, for example your team adds an add-on or a discount code, Hive prices the order again with the service’s current taxes. A new rate, a new tax or a removed tax then applies to that inspection.
  • When a client adds an add-on from the review link or the client portal, the tax already on the order is worked out again on the new total.
  • An inspection booked before you set up the tax doesn’t get it when the client adds an add-on. Ask in the chat bubble in your dashboard and we’ll help.
The tax line can’t be removed from an inspection. If you type a different tax amount with Edit Price or Duration, it is replaced the next time the pricing changes.

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Discount codes and tax

Discount codes come off first and tax is charged on what’s left, in the dashboard and on online bookings alike.
  • A fixed code: a $50 code on a $500 order with 10% tax: $500 − $50 = $450, plus $45 tax = $495.
  • A percentage code: 10% off the same order: $500 − $50 = $450, plus $45 tax = $495. The percentage is worked out on the services before tax.
  • A code limited to some services or add-ons comes off those items only. Tax is then charged on the whole order after the discount.
  • The urgent surcharge is 25% of the services after discount codes, and tax is charged on it too.
See Discount codes.

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Tax-exempt clients

There is no tax-exempt setting for a client or an inspection. For clients who don’t pay tax, create a copy of the service without the tax and book them with that service:
  1. On the Services & Fees page, click the copy icon on the service. The copy gets the same price, add-ons, modifiers and taxes, and ” - Copy” at the end of its name.
  2. Edit the copy: rename it, for example “Home Inspection (Tax Exempt)”, and delete its tax.
  3. To keep it off your online scheduler, tick Hidden on scheduler. Your team can still pick it in the dashboard.
  4. If any automations are limited to certain services, add the copy to them.

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QuickBooks

If you use the QuickBooks integration, map each Hive tax to a QuickBooks tax code in the Tax setup card on the QuickBooks page. Tax then posts to QuickBooks as sales tax, not as service income. See QuickBooks: Sales tax.

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Frequently asked questions

No. Tax is set on each service. Add the same tax to every service you charge it on. When you copy a service, its taxes are copied too.
Yes. Add-ons have no tax of their own; the main service’s tax is charged on the whole order, add-ons and their modifiers included.
The online scheduler and the quote widget show an Estimated Total before tax. Tax is added when the inspection is booked, and shows on the review link and the invoice.
Tax is added when an inspection is priced. Inspections booked before you set up the tax don’t have it. Ask in the chat bubble in your dashboard and we’ll help.
Not on their own. They keep the tax they were booked with until your team changes the order in the dashboard, for example adds an add-on or a discount code. Hive then prices the inspection again with the current rate.
Yes. Add both to the service. Each is charged on the same total before tax, and each shows as its own line.
There is no tax-exempt setting. Book the client with a copy of the service that has no tax. See Tax-exempt clients.
No tax is charged on the card processing fee. Card fees are set up separately in Business Tools → Payments.

Next step

Main services vs add-on servicesOne main service per inspection, everything else as an add-on

Related

Add-on servicesSell radon, sewer scope, termite and other extrasDiscount codesCodes clients type in for a fixed or percentage discountQuickBooksSync invoices, payments and sales tax
Last modified on October 18, 2026