---
title: "Tax Templates"
space: "ERPNext"
url: "https://www.prilk.com/docs/erpnext/tax-templates"
updated: "2026-05-15"
---

## Tax Templates

Tax Templates define how taxes are calculated on Sales Invoices, Purchase Invoices, Quotations and POs. NL-localised sites ship with templates pre-configured for standard BTW (21% / 9% / 0% / reverse charge).

### Where to manage

| Template type | Used for |
|---|---|
| **Sales Taxes and Charges Template** | Outgoing — Sales Invoice, Sales Order, Quotation |
| **Purchase Taxes and Charges Template** | Incoming — Purchase Invoice, PO |
| **Item Tax Template** | Per-item override (specific items always use a different rate) |

### Anatomy of a template

Each template has a child table of Tax Rows:

| Field | What |
|---|---|
| **Type** | On Net Total / Actual / On Previous Row Total / etc. |
| **Account Head** | The BTW or tax account to post to |
| **Rate** | The percentage (21, 9, 0) |
| **Description** | What appears on the printed invoice |
| **Add or Deduct** | Almost always Add |

### Pre-configured templates on NL sites

`erpnext_netherlands` ships these templates:

| Template | Use |
|---|---|
| **NL — BTW 21%** | Standard rate sales / purchases |
| **NL — BTW 9%** | Low rate (books, food, transport) |
| **NL — BTW 0%** | Exports, intra-EU, exempt |
| **NL — BTW Verlegd** | Reverse charge (construction, intra-EU services) |

For most invoices the default template handles things automatically. You override only for special cases.

### How ERPNext picks the right template

In order of specificity (first match wins):

1. **Item Tax Template** on the Item — for items always taxed differently (e.g., books always 9%)
2. **Tax Category** on the Customer/Supplier — for special groups (intra-EU customer, exempt foundation)
3. **Default Sales/Purchase Tax Template** in Selling/Buying Settings

### Tax Category

Use Tax Categories to express customer-level tax routing:

| Tax Category | Application |
|---|---|
| **Domestic** | Default 21% / 9% |
| **Intra-Community** | EU B2B with valid VAT — 0% reverse charge |
| **Export** | Outside EU — 0% |
| **Exempt** | Non-business, foundations, charitable — exempt |

Set the Tax Category on the Customer / Supplier record. Their invoices then auto-route to the matching template.

### Creating a new template

For a special tax scenario (custom rate, suspended VAT, margin scheme), create a new Sales Taxes and Charges Template:

1. **Sales Taxes and Charges Template → New**
2. Name it descriptively
3. Add Tax Rows for each component
4. Save

Then apply it via:
- Item Tax Template on the relevant Items, OR
- A new Tax Category for affected customers, OR
- Manual selection on each invoice

### Item Tax Template

For items where the standard customer-level routing isn't right (e.g., books are always 9% regardless of customer), use Item Tax Template:

1. Open the Item
2. **Item Tax** → add: Tax Category = Domestic, Tax Rate = "NL — BTW 9%"
3. Save

ERPNext now uses 9% for this item across all sales.

### Common situations

- **Standard NL business** — out-of-the-box templates; no setup needed beyond accepting NL localisation
- **Selling to a foundation that's exempt** — give the customer Tax Category = Exempt
- **Mixed-rate invoice (book at 9%, accessory at 21%)** — both Items have their own Item Tax Template; the invoice ends up with two BTW lines automatically
- **Margin scheme** (second-hand goods) — talk to Prilk support; custom Tax Template required