Walkthrough · article 07 of 12

Set your tax rate:
VAT, sales tax, and where it lands.

One default rate on your profile, optional overrides per product. How tax gets subtracted on the way to net revenue.

Ibrahim Ölmez Ibrahim ÖlmezFounder · nouz · 6 min read · Updated May 18, 2026
Two levels. Set a default on your profile (used as a suggestion). Override per product when a specific item has a different rate (takeaway food, books, services).

Tax in nouz is intentionally simple: one default rate that applies to most of your sales, with the option to override per product for the items that have different rates. There's no separate "tax engine" with jurisdictions and lookups — the assumption is that you know your country's rates and which products carry which.

01 How do I set my default tax rate?

On Settings → Business profile, the Default tax rate field is the value nouz pre-fills when you create a new product or a manual revenue entry. For most Austrian shops it's 20% (standard VAT). German shops are typically 19%. Dutch shops 21%. UK shops 20%.

You can change the default any time. Changing it doesn't backdate to old entries — every revenue row has its own snapshot of the tax rate at the moment it was logged, so historical numbers stay honest. The new default only applies to entries you create from that moment forward. See Changing your tax rate mid-year for the full pattern.

02 How do I set a different tax rate for one product?

On the product form, the Tax rate field overrides your default for that item — useful when a product carries a different rate. Save the product and every future revenue entry that references it uses that rate, while past sales keep the rate that was active when they were logged. Common examples are listed below: takeaway food at the reduced rate, books and printed media, VAT-exempt services at 0%, and split alcohol / food rates in restaurants.

  • Takeaway food at 10% / 7% (Austria / Germany) — most cafés need both 20%/19% and the reduced rate, and the difference is per-product.
  • Books and printed media at the reduced rate.
  • Services exempt from VAT — set the rate to 0%.
  • Alcohol at the standard rate, food at the reduced rate — restaurants typically need both.

On the product form, the Tax rate field overrides the default. Save the product and every future revenue entry that references it will use that rate. The snapshot on each revenue row stores the rate that was active at the moment of sale — so even if you bump the product's rate later, past sales keep their original rate.

03 Where does tax show up in the P&L?

Tax lives on its own line in the P&L, right under gross revenue, and it's subtracted before you reach net revenue (Gross revenue − Tax − Transaction fees = Net revenue). In the day, week, month and year views, the Tax line shows the sum of tax across every revenue entry in the period, computed per-entry using each entry's snapshot rate — so a mix of standard and reduced rates on the same day still adds up correctly.

Gross revenue − Tax − Transaction fees = Net revenue

In the day / week / month / year P&L views, the Tax line shows the sum of tax across every revenue entry in the period, computed per-entry using each entry's snapshot rate. Even if you have a mix of 20% standard and 10% reduced revenue on the same day, the math works correctly per-entry.

04 Should I type revenue with or without tax?

Type revenue as gross. When you log a revenue entry, type the till total including VAT. nouz subtracts the tax for you. Don't pre-subtract — that'll double-count it and your P&L will show lower revenue than reality.

This is the single most common day-one mistake. The till total is gross (VAT included), and that's what nouz wants — €840 on a 20% VAT day means €840 in the BAR + EC fields. nouz will compute tax (€140) and show net revenue (€700). If you pre-subtract VAT and type €700, the P&L computes tax on €700 (€116.67) and shows net revenue of €583.33 — wrong in both directions.

When in doubt: whatever's on the till receipt is what you type. The till total is always gross.

Was this article helpful?

Your vote helps us decide what to write next.

Still stuck? Email support@nouz.co — a founder replies, usually the same business day.