Native reports
Using WooCommerce Analytics Taxes for a Canadian store
WooCommerce already has a tax report. Before adding a plugin, decide whether its breakdown answers the specific question your bookkeeper is asking. A tax-code total and a Canadian province handoff serve different reporting needs.
The short answer
Start in Analytics → Taxes for WooCommerce’s built-in tax-code report and CSV download. Use TaxPack when you need explicit province attribution, GST/HST/PST/QST/RST mapping, and visible reconciliation exceptions. Compare the same records and settings before expecting the totals to match.
What the built-in Taxes report gives you
WooCommerce documents a report organized by tax code, with tax totals and order counts. Its Analytics tables support CSV downloads. This can be sufficient when your existing codes already provide the breakdown your reviewer needs.
Use that existing report first for a small period. Write down what the reviewer cannot answer from it: perhaps the selected province, a deleted historical rate, or the reason a refund is not represented in the expected group. These are more useful requirements than simply asking for “a better report.”
Match the tool to the question
| Question | A useful starting point |
|---|---|
| What totals are recorded for each tax code? | WooCommerce Analytics → Taxes |
| Which province did we attribute an order to? | TaxPack with an explicit shipping or billing choice |
| Which IDs are classified as GST, HST, PST, QST or RST? | TaxPack’s reviewed rate mappings |
| Which events have missing allocations or tax differences? | TaxPack’s visible exceptions and source links |
| Can we reopen the exact report sent last month? | A saved report in paid TaxPack |
Before comparing two totals, compare their settings
TaxPack has a fixed date policy: order creation dates, inclusive endpoints in the store timezone, selected current order statuses, and refunds queried by their own creation dates. Record those choices next to the other report’s settings. A similar-looking date range is not enough to prove the same population was included.
Also compare currency, tax code or type selection, and whether you are reading total tax or just one component. TaxPack’s shipping column is already included in net tax. Adding it again creates a discrepancy in the spreadsheet even when the underlying records agree.
A report read later can include different order statuses or source values. First isolate a small set of source IDs with the same settings. Compare their recorded tax before drawing a conclusion about either report.
Choose a summary or a saved evidence pack
TaxPack Free exports a current summary with explicit exception rows. Its download rebuilds from live records. It is useful for an initial review without an account or payment. Save the downloaded file yourself and keep its metadata intact.
Paid TaxPack adds saved reports, detailed tax-line and order/refund CSVs, and printable EN/FR worksheets. A saved report preserves the values read when it was generated, including its mapping revision. It is not a transactionally locked view of the store.
A reporting tool is only as complete as the records
Neither a neatly formatted table nor a missing warning establishes that every transaction was treated correctly. TaxPack flags the discrepancies it can detect, keeps unknown categories visible, and refuses unsupported amounts instead of rounding them. It cannot reconstruct an allocation that WooCommerce never recorded.
Keep unresolved items attached to the accountant handoff. A tax summary does not contain all the business records needed to prepare a return and does not determine what the business owes.
Official references
These guides explain reporting workflows. TaxPack does not provide tax advice, calculate tax payable, or file returns.