When sales tax rates change, keeping your CoreBridge system up to date ensures that invoices, reports, and customer records stay accurate. Rather than creating a new tax agency each time rates change, the best practice is to edit your existing tax agency. This maintains consistency across your system, prevents reporting discrepancies, and avoids confusion among users.


The Best Practice is to Edit your existing tax agency when rates change.


Note: This article focuses on updating sales taxes. For information on how to initially set up sale taxes, please see Creating Tax Agencies and Creating Tax Groups.



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Why Edit Instead of Recreate


Editing your existing tax agency provides the most stable and accurate way to manage tax changes.


By updating an existing record, you can:

  • Preserve historical data: Past transactions remain correctly linked to the same agency.

  • Avoid duplication: Multiple agencies with similar names can cause confusion and reporting errors.

  • Ensure consistency: Orders, Customers, and tax groups continue functioning without extra configuration.

  • Simplify updates: You only need to adjust a rate, rather than rebuild associated tax groups or Customer settings.


Only create a new agency when:

  • You are introducing a new type of tax (for example, adding VAT alongside Sales Tax), or

  • The new tax applies to a different region or authority not already covered by an existing agency.



How to Edit an Existing Tax Agency


Editing an existing tax agency is the recommended method for updating a rate change.


Navigate to Management Module / Locations / Manage Tax Agencies.


1. Select the existing tax agency you need to update.



2. Update the Sales Tax Rate field with the new percentage.

3. Click Save Agency.

Note: 

  • All new and cloned Orders will automatically use the new rate.
  • Any tax groups containing this agency will instantly reflect the updated rate.




How to Review or Adjust Tax Groups


If your tax rate changes also require group-level updates (for example, adding or removing agencies), you can edit your tax groups.


Note: When a tax rate or agency is updated, you do not need to edit each Customer record. Any Customers already assigned to that tax group will automatically use the new rate. You would only need to update a Customer’s record if they should be assigned to a different tax group altogether.


Navigate to Management Module / Locations / Manage Location and select the appropriate Location.


1. Select Tax Groups. 

2. Select the Group you need to edit.



3. Check or uncheck the appropriate agencies.

4. Click Submit.

Note: Editing a tax group does not change the agency’s rate. Always update the tax agency first, then make any necessary tax group adjustments.




Updating Existing Orders and Estimates


Orders or Estimates created before a tax change may show a warning icon indicating that the tax group is out of date.



To update the affected Order:


1. Click Edit Order.



2. When prompted that the tax group has been updated, click Next Step.



3. Click Save Order.



Note: 

  • The warning icon will disappear once the tax group is current.
  • If the old tax group has been deactivated, CoreBridge will automatically assign the default tax group based on the location of the sale.



Updating Customer Tax Groups


When tax rates or agencies are updated, customers assigned to those tax groups automatically use the new rate—no manual changes are required. You’ll only need to update a customer’s default tax group if they should be assigned to a different group, such as when their tax status or location changes.


Navigate to the Sales Module / Customers and select the appropriate Customer.


1. Click the Information tab.

2. Select Update Details.



3. Choose the new or updated Tax Group.

4. Click Update.

Note: All future Orders for that Customer will now use the correct, current tax rate.




Best Practices


Following these recommendations helps maintain accurate records and a smooth workflow:

  • Edit your tax agency first. This is the central source of your tax rate data.

  • Avoid duplicates. Multiple tax agencies with similar details can cause mismatches in Orders and Reports.

  • Verify changes. Run a test Order or Invoice to confirm the new rate applies properly.

  • Use warning icons. They quickly identify outdated or inactive tax groups.

  • Record change details. Keep a note of the effective date for audit and reporting purposes.



Summary


When tax rates change, always edit your existing tax agency instead of creating a new one.
This approach keeps your system organized, reporting accurate, and workflow uninterrupted.
After updating the tax agency, review your tax groups, Customers, and existing Orders to ensure everything reflects the new rate.