Getting started with TaxEqual

What the app does for you automatically, and the steps we need from you — in order.

Generated: Sep 19, 2026

What this document covers

1	What TaxEqual does for you — the work that runs automatically
2	What we need from you — the setup steps, in order
3	Your ongoing routine — what happens each filing period
4	Who does what — our responsibilities and yours
5	Menu reference — where everything lives

1 · What TaxEqual does for you

Once the setup in section 2 is complete, all of the following runs on its own. You do not have to trigger any of it.

Capability	What happens	Where you see it
Order & refund sync	Every order, line item and refund is imported as it happens, and a nightly check catches any that were missed. Your products and locations sync too.	Dashboard
Tax collected, by state	Each order line is grouped by destination state and product category, carrying the tax your sales channel charged and the local jurisdictions it named — the figures a return asks for. TaxEqual calculates no tax of its own.	Tax Reports
Economic nexus tracking	Running sales and transaction totals per state, measured against that state's own threshold and measurement window. You are alerted as you approach one and again when you cross it.	Economic Nexus
Filing-ready reports	Per state, per filing period, on that state's own frequency and due dates: a summary, a breakdown by locality and by product category, and the orders behind them. Paid plans export them as CSV, Excel or PDF.	Tax Reports
Filing history	Every period you mark as filed is recorded with the amount and the date, so a state can be reconciled later. Included in paid plans.	Registered States
Alerts	In-app and email notices for approaching and crossed nexus thresholds, returns coming due and overdue, filing confirmations, and sync failures.	Notifications
Multi-store & other channels	Nexus is measured across every store you join and across the sales you record from other channels — because a state measures your total sales into it, not just this storefront's.	Settings
Data protection	Your customers' names, email addresses, phone numbers and street addresses are discarded on arrival and never stored — only the destination city and state a return is reported by, and the amounts. The city and the order details Shopify sends are stored encrypted, and Shopify's data-deletion requests are honoured automatically.	—

2 · What we need from you

Nine steps. Steps 2 and 3 are required before the numbers can be trusted; the rest sharpen the results. Each step says where to go and why it matters.

Install the app

Nothing to open

Nothing to fill in. On install we set up your account, subscribe to your store's order updates, and start importing your products, your locations and the orders your economic nexus is measured on, from the start of last year. A long order history takes a while — the Dashboard shows progress.

Set your sync start date — REQUIRED

Settings → Historical Sync (the app opens here first)

Choose the month your reports start from — any month in the last twelve. Pick the start of the earliest filing period you still have to file.

Why it matters: every report is bounded by this date. Months before it are empty because no orders were fetched for them, not because none were made — which is why the app holds you on this page until it is set, so you are never shown a confident zero for a period we have no data for.

The date is set once. To report on earlier months later, import historical orders on the same page: imports are part of the paid plans, each is a one-time charge shown before you confirm, and when one finishes the start date moves back to cover it.

Tell us the states you are registered in — REQUIRED

Registered States → Add state

Add one entry per state where you hold a sales-tax permit, and give us:

The state
Your filing frequency there — from the ones that state uses, exactly as it assigned yours
The date nexus was established — when you became liable to collect there
The business name and state tax ID on the permit, if you have them (optional)

Why it matters: we can see where you are selling, but only you know where you are registered and on what schedule. Without this, filing periods and due dates cannot be produced for that state. Where your store is already charging tax in a state, the app adds that state for you from the first month it saw the tax, on the state's default filing frequency — check that frequency here, because only you know what the state assigned.

Complete your business profile

Settings → Business Profile

Record your business's details, and upload the documents you already hold:

Legal business name and tax ID / EIN
Owner name, email and phone
Filing contact name, email and phone
Business address
Registration certificates, sales-tax permits and state correspondence

Why it matters: these are the details a state asks for when you register and file, kept in one place with the permits they belong to.

Put your product types in categories

Settings → Product Categories

Give each of your own Shopify product types a category: General, Clothing, Food / Grocery or Digital Goods.

Why it matters: many states' returns report clothing, groceries and digital goods on their own lines. The category decides which line of each report's breakdown by product category a sale appears on; a type left unset is reported as General. It never changes the tax your store charged, or the taxable and exempt totals.

Record sales made on other platforms

Settings → Other Platform Sales

For channels this app does not sync — a marketplace, another cart, wholesale or in person — enter each month's totals per state: gross and taxable sales, tax collected and the number of orders. Type them in or import a CSV; entering a month again corrects it. Tick the box where a marketplace collected and paid the tax.

Why it matters: economic nexus is measured on all your sales into a state. Leaving these out understates your position against the threshold and can hide a state you are already required to register in. They are added to that state's report figures too.

Join your other stores

Settings → Stores

If you run more than one Shopify store as the same business, create a link code in one — it lasts an hour — and enter it in the app in the other. A store with returns already marked filed cannot be joined.

Why it matters: a state measures the business, not the storefront. Joined stores share one nexus position and one set of returns.

Choose your plan

Settings → Plan & Usage

Every plan syncs your orders, tracks nexus in every state and sends your alerts. A plan sets how many states' returns you can open, export and mark filed, and the paid plans add exports, filing history and historical imports. You approve a charge on Shopify's own billing screen, and can switch back to Free at any time.

Why it matters: nothing is switched off on a smaller plan — every state keeps its nexus tracking and deadline reminders. When you file in more states than your plan covers, it covers the ones owing the most tax, and you can change which on Registered States.

Set your notification preferences

Settings → Notifications

Choose whether we email you, straight away or as a daily summary, to which address, and for which alerts. In-app notifications are always on.

Why it matters: nexus thresholds and filing deadlines arrive whether or not you are logged in. Email is how you find out in time to act.

3 · Your ongoing routine

Once you are set up, this is the whole of the recurring work.

When	What you do	Detail
Continuously	Nothing	Orders sync as they are placed, with the tax your store charged on each. New states appear on Economic Nexus as you start selling into them.
When alerted	Act on a nexus warning	When a state is approaching or has crossed its threshold, register with that state, then add it under Registered States with the frequency the state assigns you.
Each period end	Review the report	Open Tax Reports, pick the state and period, and check the summary and the breakdown by locality against what you collected.
Then	File and pay with the state	Export the report as CSV, Excel or PDF and use it to complete the state's own return. Payment is made to the state directly.
Finally	Mark it filed	Marking the period filed records the amount and date, clears the reminder, and keeps your filing history complete.
As needed	Keep the inputs current	Add the month's sales from other platforms, put any new product types in a category, and update a filing frequency whenever a state changes yours.

4 · Who does what

TaxEqual does	You do
Sync orders, refunds, products and locations	Set the sync start date the history is measured from
Group every line by state and category, and total the tax the channel charged	Put product types in categories, so each sale lands on the right report line
Track each state's economic-nexus threshold and warn you	Register with the state, and tell us the registration and frequency
Produce the return figures, period by period, with due dates	Submit the return and pay the state
Keep the filing history and send the reminders	Mark each period filed once it is done
Maintain the nexus thresholds and state filing codes behind the reports	Record sales made through channels we do not sync

Please note. TaxEqual prepares the figures and the filing calendar; it does not submit returns or remit tax to a state on your behalf, and it does not register you with a state. The app is compliance software, not tax advice — for a position that turns on the facts of your business, confirm it with a qualified tax professional.

5 · Menu reference

Menu item	What it is for
TaxEqual (the app's name)	The Dashboard — tax to file, overdue returns, the next deadline and states with sales; import progress and your getting-started checklist
Tax Reports	Filing periods by state — review, export, and mark as filed
Economic Nexus	Where you stand against every state's economic-nexus threshold
Registered States	The states you file in, their filing frequency, which your plan covers, and filing history
Notifications	Your alerts
Settings	Business Profile, Stores, Historical Sync, Other Platform Sales, Product Categories, Plan & Usage, and which alerts we email you
Support	Questions for our team, with attachments — we reply there and by email — and this guide