Discount codes: create one, scope it, cap it, and switch it off

01 — The automatic part

What is automatic

Turn on Collect tax at checkout and Stripe Tax works out the rate from where the buyer is and what you are registered for, on your account and your registrations. Bumps are taxed with the sale. Tax is calculated after any discount, so a coupon reduces the taxable amount rather than being taken off the tax-inclusive total.

Tax on a one-click upsell is correct only on the card rail. That is a real limit, not an oversight — see what each rail supports. If you sell upsells into tax jurisdictions, keep card primary.

02 — The control

Per-region postures

Each region can be set to one of three postures. Four regions are recognised: the EU, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

Posture	What happens
charge_all (default)	Tax consumers; reverse-charge verified businesses. This is what every region does until you change it.
business_only	Sell only to businesses that genuinely reverse-charge. A consumer in that region is refused at the payment, not after it.
off	Never calculate tax for that region.

Postures need the Worldwide Tax & Affiliates Pack. Without it every region reads as charge_all no matter what is stored — so the setting is inert rather than half-applied.

03 — The B2B case

B2B reverse charge

Sell across a border to a VAT- or GST-registered business and you usually should not charge tax at all — the buyer accounts for it. GoCushy enforces that server-side at every payment path: one-time card, Airwallex, subscriptions, and PayPal on both create and capture. A gate on one path is a hole a buyer drives through, so it is deliberately on all of them.

Set a region to business_only and the block admits a buyer only when Stripe confirms the sale was genuinely reverse-charged. It is not a checkbox that trusts a typed VAT number.

business_only also needs “Collect tax at checkout” on. The block relies on Stripe's own confirmation, so with tax collection off there is nothing to confirm and nothing to admit against.

04 — The paperwork

Invoices

Every paid sale can carry a sequential invoice number — your prefix, then an unbroken run. Sequential numbering is a legal requirement in much of the world, and it is exactly the thing you cannot retrofit later, because the gaps are the problem.

Invoices file themselves to Xero or QuickBooks if you connect one. Numbering and accounting both come with the pack.

05 — The line

What stays yours

Where you must register is yours and your accountant's. The software calculates and collects against registrations you have told it about; it does not know your thresholds, it does not watch them, and it will not tell you when you have crossed one. Nor does it file your return.

This is not tax advice. It is a description of what the software does. Registration, thresholds, remittance and your return stay with you and a professional.

06 — Diagnosis

If something looks wrong

No tax on any sale. Either tax collection is off, or you hold no registration covering that buyer's location.

My region posture appears to do nothing. Postures need the pack; without it everything is charge_all.

A business buyer was still charged tax. Stripe did not confirm a valid reverse-charge for that sale. The gate admits on confirmation, not on a typed number.

An upsell was taxed oddly. Check the rail — correct upsell tax is card-only.

No invoice number. Sequential numbering comes with the pack.

07 — Next

Where to go next

Getting paid, filing to Xero or QuickBooks, or EU withdrawal and GDPR.