Estimated Tax in Campaignswell

This article explains the revenue terms involved, how the tax is calculated, and what the metric should and should not be used for.

The Tax metric can show tax amounts deducted from gross revenue so revenue and unit-economics metrics (LTV, margin) are shown net of tax. For most clients, Tax comes only from the connected source data. Estimated sales-tax calculation is an optional feature: it is disabled by default and enabled individually on request. It is not intended for tax reporting or filing; it is a modeling estimate for analytics only.

Revenue terms

To understand the Tax metric, it helps to know how we define revenue, because the tax is worked out from these two figures.

Revenue gross - the full amount the user paid, including all fees and taxes. This is the tax-inclusive figure: the total of a transaction (base price plus tax).

Revenue gross adjusted - gross revenue adjusted for negative revenue events and related dispute costs: Revenue gross adjusted = Revenue gross - Сhargebacks - Refunds − Dispute fee − RDR alerts fee

Revenue - the net figure after payment system fees and tax are excluded: Revenue = Revenue gross adjusted − Payment system fee − Tax

Tax-inclusive vs tax-exclusive - tax-inclusive means the tax is already bundled into the price the user sees (common with VAT in Europe); tax-exclusive means tax is added on top at checkout (common with US sales tax).

By default, Campaignswell treats revenue as tax-inclusive - the tax is included in Revenue gross, and we subtract it to get the net figure.

Tax terms

When estimated sales-tax calculation is enabled, Tax is the estimated country-, state-, or province-level tax contained in non-recurring and subscription gross revenue. Ads revenue is not included in the Tax metric. Because revenue is treated as tax-inclusive, the tax is separated out of Revenue gross using the reverse tax formula: Revenue gross excluded tax = Revenue gross / (1 + Tax rate / 100)

Tax = Revenue gross - Revenue gross excluded tax

Metric formula: Tax = Non-recurring tax + Subscription tax. Ads tax is not part of the metric because ad revenue currently has no tax component.

Additionally:

• Outside the US and Canada, rates are applied by country.
• Within the US, rates are applied by state; within Canada, by province.
• The user's geo is determined first by the IP address where the purchase was made, and only as a fallback by the country of the payment card. If the US state is missing, Campaignswell applies a flat 5% rate. If the Canadian province is missing, it applies a 5% GST floor. If the country is unknown or there is no configured rate for the country (for example, Hong Kong), tax is not extracted and revenue remains gross.
• For clients without estimated sales-tax calculation enabled, Campaignswell adds no tax of its own: the value is whatever the connected source reports, used as is. Whether tax is reported depends on the provider and its configuration. Apple App Store and Google Play always report it. Others (Stripe, Solidgate, Paddle, PayPro, FastSpring, etc.) report it only if tax collection is configured on their side. The estimate is optional and can be enabled per provider. It applies only where the source reports no tax - where a tax amount is present, it is always used as is.

Tax is included so revenue metrics reflect amounts net of tax. This improves the accuracy of pLTV and unit-economics calculations. The value is a modeling input, not an accounting figure.

Refunds

For refunds, tax is reversed from the original payment. The rate and location are inherited from the original payment; Campaignswell does not run a new tax lookup for the refund.

Limitations

• When the optional Tax estimate is enabled, values are estimates based on country-, US-state-, and Canada-province-level rates plus the fallback rules above. They are not a reconciliation of actual tax liability.
• Not for tax reporting or filing. Do not use this metric for declarations, remittance, or any official tax purpose.
• Campaignswell is not a tax or financial advisory service and does not guarantee the accuracy of this figure for reporting purposes.
• For official records, refer to your payment provider's data and your own tax advisor.

Applied tax rates

Reference rates used for the optional estimate come from APILayer Tax Data API snapshots, refreshed twice per month. 

US - state-level applied rate

Canada - combined rate

Global country applied rates

Rates change over time and may vary by locality or product category. Campaignswell uses the configured applied standard rate for the estimate; always verify official tax obligations with the relevant tax authority or your tax advisor.

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