# Add or stop a state you collect sales tax in

Tell QixCount which state you collect sales tax in, its filing schedule and default tax, or the date you stopped.

Canonical: https://demo.qixcount.com/help/taxes/add-a-state

Who can do this: Owners, or people with *Manage business settings, roles & permissions*

Where: Tax, then Sales tax

You'll need: Tax turned on in Features; an active tax group made of the rates of that state

## Add a state

You register with the state yourself first. QixCount does not register you or send returns. Before you start, [create the state's rates](https://demo.qixcount.com/help/taxes/set-up-tax-rates) and [combine them into a tax group](https://demo.qixcount.com/help/taxes/create-tax-groups), because the form needs a default tax.

1. Open **Tax**, then select **Sales tax**.
2. Select **Add a state**.
3. Under **Which state?**, choose the **State**, then select **Continue**. States already on your list, and states with no statewide sales tax, are left out.
4. Enter **Collecting since**. It starts as the first day of this month and can't be more than 10 years back.
5. Review **Tax agency**. It is filled in from the state, and you can change the name.
6. Enter **Permit or registration number** if you want it on the Sales tax page. It accepts up to 100 characters.
7. Select **How often you file**: Monthly, Quarterly or Annually.
8. Select **Return due**. The choices are a day of the month after the period, from the 1st to the 28th, or its last day.
9. Select **First return to track here**. Choose the first return you have not yet filed; it starts on the current period. Returns before it are not created, and tax collected before then still counts toward what you owe the state until a payment clears it.
10. Turn on **This is my home state** if your business is based there. The home state is listed first on the Sales tax page.
11. Under **Default tax for**, choose the tax used when a customer ships to this state and has no tax of their own. Only active taxes that belong to this state are listed.
12. Select **Save state**.

You return to the Sales tax page with the state on your list.

## What saving does

- QixCount creates the state's first return and each one after it, through the period that holds today, with their due dates. A due date that lands on a Saturday or Sunday moves to the following Monday. Later returns appear as their periods begin.
- New invoices that ship to the state, dated on or after **Collecting since**, get the state's default tax filled in. See [how the tax on an invoice is chosen](https://demo.qixcount.com/help/taxes/how-invoice-tax-is-chosen).
- Old invoices stay as they are.

The rates you type are your responsibility. QixCount does not check them against the state.

## Change a state

On the Sales tax page, select the state's name under **States where you collect**. Change the fields and select **Save changes**.

- Changes apply to new invoices.
- Returns that are not filed yet move to the new due day.
- If you change how often you file or the first return, open returns with no payment are made again on the new schedule.
- Filed and paid returns are never changed. When the state has one, a new schedule can only start after it: set **Collecting since** to the day the new schedule starts, then choose a first return that begins after that return's period.
- The default tax has to stay a tax of this state.

## Stop collecting in a state

1. On the Sales tax page, select the state's name.
2. Enter **Stopped collecting on**. It can't be before the date you began.
3. Select **Save changes**.

Invoices dated after that day get no tax for the state, and no new returns are made. An open return for a period that starts after that day is removed if it has no tax and no payment. Returns that hold tax stay on your list so you can file and pay them. The state shows a Stopped tag with the date.

To start again later, clear **Stopped collecting on** and set **Collecting since** to the day you start.

## Remove a state added by mistake

Open the state and select the **Remove** button under the heading that names the state, then confirm. QixCount refuses while the state has an unpaid return with tax collected in its period. Pay that return first, or set the date you stopped collecting instead.

Removing a state also removes its open returns that have no payment. Paid returns, and any return with a payment, stay as history. The state's rates stay, and old invoices are unchanged. If you add the same state again, its kept returns come back with it, and the new first return can't cover dates a kept return already covers.

This guide explains how QixCount works. It isn't tax, legal or accounting advice.