Yes. SparkReceipt supports breaking a receipt's tax into multiple tax lines — for example VAT, GST, PST, HST, or a combined GST+PST for Canadian receipts. When a receipt is scanned, SparkReceipt automatically attempts to detect the total tax and, where applicable, split it into the relevant components such as GST and PST.
You can review and adjust the breakdown on each document from the tax editor, and you can also define custom named tax rates under Tax rates in your account settings so they're available as quick picks when editing documents.
Tax-inclusive vs. tax-exclusive (net) totals
Every document has one tax mode, which decides how its prices relate to tax:
- Tax included (tax-inclusive / gross) — the prices already contain tax. SparkReceipt works the tax back out of each line, so a line's subtotal is its price minus the tax it contains, and the total stays the same. This is normal for most consumer receipts in VAT countries.
- Tax excluded (tax-exclusive / net) — the prices are net, before tax. SparkReceipt keeps each line price as the subtotal and adds tax on top, so the total is subtotal + tax. This is normal for US and Canadian receipts and for many wholesale / B2B invoices where line prices are net and the VAT appears only as a single total at the bottom.
The mode applies to the whole document and every line follows it. There is no per-line tax mode, and the mode is not shown as a field on the document: it only describes how the scan read the receipt.
Why tax can look like it's being subtracted from each line
If a wholesale invoice lists net line prices and shows VAT only once at the end, but the scan read the document as Tax included, SparkReceipt assumes each line price already contains tax and carves the tax back out of it. That is the behavior some customers describe as "tax subtracted from every line." The fix is to correct the figures on the document: type the invoice's total, or open the line items and set each line's net amount, and the VAT follows the line's rate (see "Editing the total" below).
Editing the total: taxes follow the stated rates
When you type a new total on an expense or income, SparkReceipt recomputes the taxes that have a stated rate instead of keeping the old tax amount. A line at 25.5 % VAT stays a 25.5 % line, and a Canadian receipt with GST 5 % and QST 9.975 % keeps both rates: the net and each tax are worked out from the new total, and the stored total matches what you typed to the cent. Typing a new subtotal does the same on the new net, and typing a tax amount keeps the net and moves the total. This works the same way in the web app and in the mobile app, and whether the receipt's prices included tax or not.
Only taxes with a stated rate follow it: a VAT, GST, PST or HST line whose rate was read from the receipt or picked from your Tax rates. A US sales tax amount without a fixed rate stays as it is, and the difference goes to the subtotal.
Under the tax amount, the rate row (labelled Effective tax rate in the web app) shows the rate the line states while the amounts agree with it. If they stop agreeing (for example after you typed a tax amount by hand), the row shows the effective rate next to the stated one and offers Recalculate at the stated rate, which recomputes the net and the taxes from the current total.
In the web app you can also change the rate from that row. When every line item has the same rate, or none (a card statement line imported without its tax, for example), click the rate and pick one of your Tax rates. It goes on every line, and each line keeps its total: $100.00 at 5 % GST becomes 95.24 + 4.76 GST. When the lines have different rates, the row stays read-only and you set each rate in the line items.
A document with several line items books the difference between your typed total and the line items on an adjustment line, which carries the rate of the lines that make up most of the document. On mobile this is the Set total & tax sheet, which says where the difference goes before you confirm. You can move the adjustment to the right line afterwards in the line items.
How SparkReceipt picks the mode when it scans
You don't normally set this by hand. When a document is scanned, SparkReceipt detects the tax mode for that specific document, mostly from the country or region of the receipt. Receipts from tax-exclusive regions such as the United States and Canada are treated as Tax excluded, while most European (VAT) receipts are treated as Tax included. Your default tax mode (below) is used only as a fallback, when the scan can't determine a mode on its own.
Because detection happens per document, there is no setting that forces every new document into one fixed tax mode. If a particular invoice is detected the wrong way, correct its total or its line items; the taxes follow their rates either way.
Can I switch a single document between the two modes?
Not any more, and you no longer need to. Neither the web app nor the mobile app shows a tax-mode field on a document: the mode only describes how the scan read the receipt, and editing a document's figures no longer depends on it. Whatever the mode, a typed total, subtotal or tax amount is applied the same way (see "Editing the total" above). If a scan read a document the wrong way, correct its total or its line items and the taxes follow their rates.
The default tax mode for new documents
Your default tax mode is used when a scan can't determine a mode, and for documents you create by hand. If you sign up in the web app, you pick it in the Tax calculations field during onboarding. If you sign up in the mobile app, it follows the Region you choose during onboarding: Tax excluded for regions that usually quote prices before tax (such as the United States and Canada) and Tax included everywhere else. If you sign up from the QuickBooks App Store, SparkReceipt sets it to the usual tax mode for your QuickBooks company's country.
The default belongs to each person, not to the account. A teammate you invite doesn't inherit yours: documents they create by hand use the default from their own signup, or Tax included if they never went through account setup.
You can't change this default after onboarding. If a document comes out in the wrong mode, correct its figures as described above.
Keep in mind this is a fallback default, not an override. A scan that confidently detects a region's tax convention will still use that convention.
Can automations or AI rules force a tax mode?
No. Auto-assign rules and Custom AI instructions (Elite) can set fields like category, tags, payment method and totals, but they cannot set or pin a document's tax mode. Recurring-document automations do have a tax-mode field, but it applies only to the documents that automation generates on a schedule. It doesn't apply to receipts and invoices you scan or upload. If a scanned document came out with the wrong figures, correct its total or its line items and the taxes follow their rates.