How does FocusPOS Calculate Sales Tax

There are multiple ways to calculate sales tax for a POS system. FocusPOS chooses to calculate Sales Tax based on "buckets". This article explains in detail. For the purposes of this article, the terms Sales Tax and Tax can be used interchangeably.

Background
FocusPOS allows you to have up to 16 Sales Taxes configured in your system. Taxes are directly associated with Menu Items. Menu Items are the primary application method for a Sales Tax. Therefore any item that needs to have a particular Sales Tax applied must have that Tax set at the item level. Focus CANNOT apply a tax to an item that does not have the Tax already set. Taxes can be applied to removed based on Order Type and/or Location. Remember, you must always have the Tax applied to the Menu Item before it can be applied or triggered using an Order Type or Location.
Calculation
For the purposes of this explanation, we will be assuming that the Tax is being applied without any alteration by Order Types or Locations. FocusPOS groups items into Tax applicable buckets. These buckets are based the tax that is applicable to that Menu Item on that Check (here is where Order Type and Location overrides come in to play, but we'll ignore those for this article). FocusPOS will iterate over the check looking for items that have a Tax applicable to them, it (FocusPOS) will then grab that item and add it to the Tax Bucket. For example, using the image to the right. The items with the blue box are set to have Tax1 (Tax) applicable to them. The items in the red box are set to have Tax2 (Bar Tax) applicable to them. FocusPOS will pass over the check and grab the Fries, Tater-Tots, Sliders & Grilled Wedge. It will sum up the cost of those items ($35.00) and multiply it by the Sales Tax set in Focus Setup >Order Entry >Taxes for Tax1. In our example, Tax1 (Tax) is set to 9%. Therefore FocusPOS will calculate Tax to equal $3.15, which is shown in the example on the right. FocusPOS will then pass over the check and grab the next set of items. In this case, the items in the red box have Tax2 (Bar Tax) applied. Tax2 is set as an Inclusive Tax and inclusive tax is calculated into the cost of the item and is NOT added on to the check. Instead, FocusPOS does the math to figure out what the tax of the item is based on the price of the item. The exact math is the sale price of the item divided by the listed sales tax amount. Example: $4.00  1.09 = $3.66 ($4.00 - $3.66 = $0.34 in Sales Tax) FocusPOS repeats this process for all 16 Tax options as they are applicable to the check.
Notes
It's important to note that a single item can sit in multiple Tax Buckets. This can allow multiple taxes to be applied to a single item, and can also allow a tax to be applied to an item or not applied based on Order Type or Location. FocusPOS also allows for taxes to be Exempted using theTax Exempt command or a package with Tax Exemptintegrated into it. If a Tax is exempted on an item, it will be listed on the Daily Sales Report with it's value in the Exempt section of the DSR and can be reported on theAudit Report.