Bill Line Tax Configuration Enhancements
We’ve updated the Tax Configuration section when editing bill lines to make it easier to see which fields affect sales tax versus use tax, and to clearly show the tax-inclusive total for each line. These changes apply across all BuildOps tax setups (AP Tax, Avalara, and our legacy tax option) without changing how tax is actually calculated.
What’s New
The Tax Configuration area in the Edit Bill Item dialog is now split into two clear sections:
Purchasing Sales Tax – fields related to tax charged by the vendor.
Use Tax – fields related to self-assessed tax your team records when the vendor did not charge tax.
A new Tax Configuration block replaces the previous flat list of tax fields, and appears on:
AP Tax bills (without Avalara),
Avalara-connected bills,
Legacy (“old”) tax bills, including historic bills.
Each bill line now shows both:
Subtotal (pre-tax amount), and
Total (subtotal + effective sales tax).
Where You’ll See It
You’ll see the new Tax Configuration layout whenever you edit a bill line:
Go to Procurement → Bills.
Open a bill and click into Bill Detail.
Choose a line item and click Edit (Edit Bill Item).
Scroll down to the Tax Configuration section in the edit modal.
The exact fields you see depend on which tax setup your company is using (AP Tax, Avalara, or the legacy tax option).
Example AP Tax bill line with clearly separated Purchasing Sales Tax and Use Tax sections.
How It Works
AP Tax (BuildOps AP tax without Avalara)
When your company uses BuildOps AP Tax (without Avalara), the Tax Configuration is grouped into:
Purchasing Sales Tax
Work Taxability Type – drives whether work on this line is taxable.
Sales Taxable – toggle to indicate if this line should be taxed.
Sales Tax Amount and Sales Tax Region – automatically calculated.
Sales Tax Amount Overridden – lets you override the calculated tax when needed.
Use Tax
Use Taxable – toggle to indicate whether use tax applies.
Use Tax Amount and Use Tax Region – calculated based on your configuration.
If you uncheck Sales Taxable or Use Taxable, the related fields are disabled (greyed out) but their values are retained and come back when you re-check the toggle.
Avalara
For companies using Avalara, the Tax Configuration section keeps all Avalara-driven fields in one place so you can see what’s driving the calculation, while Avalara still performs the final tax math when you save.
Key behavior:
Work Taxability Type continues to determine taxability and can auto-fill the Provider Tax Code used by Avalara.
Provider Tax Code remains editable, in case your accounting team needs to fine-tune how Avalara treats the line.
Sales Tax Amount and Use Tax Amount remain read-only; they are calculated by Avalara after you save the bill.
When you change a field that affects Avalara (such as Unit Cost, Quantity, Work Taxability Type, Provider Tax Code, or Use Taxable), you’ll see an informational banner letting you know tax will be recalculated after save.
Avalara tax configuration showing the “Tax amounts will be recalculated after save” banner.
Legacy (“Old”) Tax
For accounts still on the legacy tax option:
The new Tax Configuration block organizes the existing sales tax fields under a clearer header.
There is no Use Tax section under this older setup; only sales tax is shown for those bill lines.
Legacy tax layout updated to use the new Tax Configuration section (sales tax only).
Subtotal and Total on the Bill Line
Every bill line now surfaces both the Subtotal and Total directly in the edit modal:
Subtotal – pre-tax amount (Unit Cost × Bill Quantity).
Total – Subtotal + effective sales tax amount.
If tax is 0 or AP Tax is turned off for your company, Subtotal and Total will match.
Both values automatically update as you adjust:
Unit Cost
Bill Quantity
Taxable / Use Taxable toggles
Sales Tax Amount
Sales Tax Amount Overridden
Subtotal (pre-tax) and tax-inclusive Total now appear together on each bill line.
Fixes Included in This Update
To support the new layout, we also fixed several usability and reliability issues.
Fixes at a Glance
| Before | After |
Sales Tax Amount Overridden availability | Could become disabled when Use Taxable was checked in some AP Tax setups | Always stays editable when it should be, regardless of Use Taxable state |
Project-costing-only tax edits | Tax edits on imported, project-linked lines looked like they saved but were discarded on save | Tax fields are clearly read-only in this mode, matching other non-costing fields |
Error when toggling Taxable with no category | Toggling Taxable/Use Taxable on a line with no tax category could return a 400 error | Toggle completes without error; behavior is consistent and reliable |
Notes:
This is a visual and workflow update only—it does not change your underlying tax configuration or rates.
The new layout will roll out automatically to your account; there is no new setting you need to enable.
The new Tax Configuration section appears wherever users already have permission to edit bill lines in Procurement → Bills → Bill Detail. No new roles or permissions are required.
If you don’t see the new layout on your account and believe you should have access, our BuildOps Support Team can help.