Tax category [tax_category]

The tax category [tax_category]attribute allows you to organise your products according to custom tax rules. For example, certain clothing is exempted from tax in some US states and some products have lower tax rates than the normal rate. Use this attribute to ensure that your product is shown with the correct tax rate in the US.

In this article

• When to use
• Format
• Minimum requirements
• Additional guidelines
• Examples

When to use

Optional for all products

If you want to set different tax rates for specific groups of products, use tax category [tax_category] to apply a label to products, such as 'perishable foods' or 'clothing'. If you submit this attribute, it can be used to amend the tax settings in your Merchant Center account for the states for which you have configured tax rates.

Format

Follow these formatting guidelines to make sure that Google understands the data that you're submitting.

Learn when and how to submit your product data in English

Type	String (Unicode characters. Recommended: ASCII only)
Limits	1–100 characters
Repeated field	No

 

File format	Example entry
Text feeds	clothing
XML feeds	<g:tax_category>clothing</g:tax_category>

Note: To ensure that this product data attribute is recognised by our system correctly, remember to submit your data feed file in a format that we support.

Minimum requirements

These are the requirements that you'll need to meet to show your product. If you don't follow these requirements, we'll disapprove your product and let you know in your Merchant Center account.

• Match the submitted category names to the names that are entered in the tax category section of Merchant Center. Category names that do not match will not be processed.
• Comply with local laws when submitting tax information.

Additional guidelines

Review each section closely to determine whether the requirements apply to your country or product. If you don't follow requirements that apply to you, we'll disapprove your product and let you know in Diagnostics in your Merchant Center account.

Countries other than the United States

The tax category attribute is used only for sales in the United States. Don't use this attribute when targeting other countries.

Examples

Custom tax rate at the state level

The tax category [tax_category] attribute can be used to set custom tax rates for items at the state level. For example, if a state's sales tax rate is normally 7.0%, but clothing sales are never taxed:

1. Add a value called 'clothing' to the tax_category attribute for all non-taxable clothing items.
2. In Merchant Center, set the 'clothing' label to a 0.0% tax rate for the state that requires it.

Note: Unless specified, this special tax rate for 'clothing' will not be applied to any other state.