Taxes and Fees
Review automatic or manual tax, fees, discounts, and trade-in allowance before closing a deal.
Use Details > Taxes & Fees to review tax and other charges in one place. Choose the correct location, use automatic or manual tax, and check the result before completing the deal.
Check every tax result
Tax rules and rates can change. Confirm the location, rates, exemptions, fees, and trade-in treatment with a source your dealership trusts before you quote or complete the deal.
Choose the transaction location
Open Details > General and select the location source used by the tax workflow:
| Source | Address used |
|---|---|
| Branch | Transaction branch address |
| Buyer | Primary buyer address, or the first buyer when no primary is selected |
| Custom | Address entered on the transaction |
Choose the source that matches your dealership's tax process. Check the county and state before you continue.
Use automatic tax
- Open Details > Taxes & Fees.
- Set the tax mode to automatic.
- Confirm the location source and address.
- Enter the sale price and any requested information.
- Review the tax location, taxable amount, state/local/other lines, rates, and total.
- Save the transaction.
Automatic tax can use the transaction date, location, sale price, document fee, discount, trade-in, fair market value, and Include Other Tax setting.
Save a changed transaction date before reviewing tax
After changing the transaction date, select Save once to keep the new date. Select Save a second time to refresh tax with that date. Then review the result.
If DealerSpot asks for a county or fair market value, enter the checked value instead of guessing.
Automatic tax is available only in supported states
Automatic tax may not cover every city, county, special district, exemption, or future rate change. Use manual tax when your dealership has already confirmed the correct amount elsewhere.
Enter manual tax
Use manual mode when your dealership has already confirmed the correct tax outside DealerSpot.
- Change the tax mode to manual.
- Use the fixed State Tax, Local Tax, and Other Tax rows.
- Enter either a rate or amount in each row you need. DealerSpot fills the matching value.
- Leave a row at zero when it does not apply.
- Review the resulting total and save the transaction.
The manual section has three fixed rows. It does not let you add or rename rows. Check the amounts before saving.
Record fees and discount
| Field | What it records |
|---|---|
| Document Fee | Document charge entered by your dealership |
| Title/License Fee | Title or registration amount |
| Other Fee | Another charge on the transaction |
| Discount | Amount taken off the displayed total |
DealerSpot does not decide whether a fee is allowed, limited, taxable, or correctly named in your area.
The Drive-Out Tag Number appears in quick edit, not in Taxes & Fees. It does not change the displayed total.
Read the displayed total
The transaction price summary is:
Sale price
+ Document fee
+ Title and license fee
+ Other fee
+ Current calculated or entered tax total
- Discount
- Active trade-in allowance
= Displayed transaction totalThe displayed total does not subtract down payment or add trade-in payoff, finance charge, warranty cost, GAP cost, VSI fee, or every other stored term. Review those separately in Payment, Trade-In, Lien, and Warranty.
The total can change while you edit. Save before you treat it as the final amount in DealerSpot.
The tax calculation may use a different taxable amount than the simple total shown above. Review the tax lines themselves.
Handle an exemption
The Exemption section can record a claimed exemption, destination state, and invoice number. A claimed exemption shows zero tax for the selected location.
This records what you entered. It does not prove that the deal qualifies for the exemption.
Review tax after changes
Pending deals refresh tax after many changes to the deal, branch address, or primary buyer address. Remember to save twice after changing the transaction date.
Reopen a completed deal before changing the branch or vehicle
Tax does not refresh when the branch or vehicle changes on a Complete deal. Change the deal back to Pending, review and save the tax, then complete it again.
Before completion:
- Confirm the transaction date and location. If the date changed, save twice and review the result.
- Confirm the county, state, ZIP code, and fair market value when needed.
- Compare each line and total with a source your dealership trusts.
- Review exemption and trade-in treatment.
- Save the final result before generating documents.