How Order Tax Affects Your Profit
Updated October 2, 2026
Order tax is the sales tax or VAT contained in what your customers pay. It is not your money, so Profitario deducts it from revenue before it calculates profit. This article shows where the tax appears on the dashboard and what happens to it when you refund an order.
Tax on the Dashboard#
The dashboard's Overview deducts tax directly below revenue:
| Row | Example |
|---|---|
| Gross Revenue | $119.00 |
| Tax | $19.00 |
| Subtotal | $100.00 |
| Cost of Goods Sold | $40.00 |
| Gross Profit | $60.00 |
The customer paid $119.00, of which $19.00 is tax. Profit is calculated from the remaining $100.00. If the tax were missing, the same order would show a Gross Profit of $79.00, which is $19.00 too high.
Expand the Tax row to see Output VAT (orders): the tax collected on your orders minus the tax on refunds, with one line per country.
Which orders contribute tax also depends on the Tax column of your profit rules. By default, unpaid and fully refunded orders contribute none. See Choose Which Orders Count Toward Profit (Profit Rules).
Refunded Tax#
When you refund an order, part of the refund is tax that you no longer owe.
- The Tax row shows tax collected minus tax refunded. Expand it to see the net amount under Output VAT (orders).
- A refund lowers your profit by its amount without tax. The tax part is neutral: it was never counted as your revenue.
Worked example. An order of $238.00 contains $38.00 tax. You refund half of it: $119.00, of which $19.00 is tax.
| Row | Calculation | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Total Revenue | $238.00 | |
| Returns & Refunds | $119.00 | |
| Gross Revenue | $238.00 − $119.00 | $119.00 |
| Tax | $38.00 − $19.00 | $19.00 |
| Subtotal | $119.00 − $19.00 | $100.00 |
The refunded tax is always the tax Shopify reports on the refund. It is not calculated from your rates per country. While Import tax from Shopify is off, refunded tax counts as $0.00.
Other Parts of the Tax Row#
The Tax row can contain two more parts. Both have their own settings on the Tax & VAT page and their own article.
Input VAT. The VAT contained in your product and handling costs. If you reclaim it, it is credited in the Tax row and lowers it. Order tax and input VAT are independent: the order tax source does not change your input VAT. See How to Deduct Input VAT From Your Costs.
Ad spend tax. The tax your ad platforms charge on advertising. It is added to the Tax row as a cost, or credited there for ad accounts marked as reclaimable. See How to Set Up Ad Spend Tax.
Related articles
Was this article helpful?