TripWorks lets you add up to 20 taxes and surcharges to what you sell — a percentage like sales tax or VAT, or a flat surcharge like a trail, dock, or fuel fee. You control which items and channels each applies to, and whether it's shown separately at checkout or baked into the price. Find them under Setup Get paid Taxes & Surcharges.
In this article
You have a fixed set of 20 slots — you don't add new ones, you configure and turn on the slots you need.
Configure a tax or surcharge
Select a row to open its settings:
- Enable this tax — turn it on to start collecting. Turning it off keeps the configuration but stops collecting it.
- Label — the name shown on receipts and during checkout (for example, Sales Tax).
- How it's calculated — choose one:
- Percentage — a variable percentage of the price, like sales tax or VAT.
- Fixed amount — a flat charge. Choose whether it applies once per trip or once per booking/guest.
Where it applies
Each tax or surcharge can apply broadly or narrowly:
- Applies to everything, or Limit to specific items — pick the exact activities, products, and add-ons it's collected on.
- Booking channels — E-commerce, Direct, Offline resellers, and OTAs, each all-or-specific. So you can collect a tax on your website and direct bookings but not through an OTA, for example.
How it's shown and counted
A tax's accounting options control how it appears to guests and in your reports:
- Display all-inclusive pricing — bake this tax into the ticket price shown from the start of checkout, instead of adding it at the end. Guests see the full price upfront (see below).
- Don't itemize — include it in the total without a separate line item.
- Include in revenue — count it as part of your business income (common for VAT) rather than a pass-through amount collected on behalf of a tax authority.
- Exempt by default on new trips — new bookings are created exempt from this tax, and you enable it manually per trip when it applies.
By default a tax is added on top at checkout. Turning on Display all-inclusive pricing for a tax bakes it into the shown price instead.
Why all-inclusive pricing matters
Showing the full price upfront — rather than surprising guests with fees at the end — builds trust and helps you meet price-transparency rules in many places (California SB-478, FTC guidance, EU consumer-protection law). A $50 ticket that becomes $57.50 at checkout can drive complaints and chargebacks; an all-inclusive $57.50 shown from the start avoids that.
Turn taxes on for an activity
Which taxes apply is also set per activity — each activity opts in to the account-level taxes it should assess. You set up the tax once here, then enable it on the activities it applies to.
Frequently asked questions
How do I set up sales tax?
Open a tax slot, label it (e.g. Sales Tax), set How it's calculated to Percentage, enter your rate, and choose where it applies. Enable it and save.
What's the difference between a tax and a surcharge?
It's just how you configure the slot: a Percentage behaves like a tax (sales tax, VAT), and a Fixed amount behaves like a flat surcharge or fee (a trail fee, fuel charge). Both are set up the same way.
Can I show prices with tax already included?
Yes. Turn on Display all-inclusive pricing for each tax you want baked into the ticket price. Guests then see the all-inclusive price from the start of checkout instead of fees added at the end.
Can I make a single booking tax-exempt?
Yes. Open the trip, edit its taxes (the pencil next to the tax), and toggle the tax off before payment is collected. You can also set a tax to be exempt by default on new trips and enable it only when needed.
If I change a tax rate, does it affect existing bookings?
No. The rate in effect when a trip is created is locked to that trip. Changing a rate only affects trips created afterward.
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