Automatically code international tax from receipts
Overview
Available with Ramp Plus and Ramp Enterprise. Eligible businesses with Ramp accounts issued in Canada or the UK can also use automated tax coding without these plans.
Ramp can help automate tax code selection by analyzing receipts submitted for transactions. This feature uses OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to extract relevant tax details from receipts, improving accounting accuracy and saving time.
Automated tax coding from receipts requires specific setup before it can be used. Each supported accounting integration has different requirements for tax code support. For integration-specific setup requirements, see Tax support by integration below.
Prerequisites
Before automated tax coding from receipts can work, the following must be in place:
- Feature availability — your business must use Ramp Plus or Ramp Enterprise, or have an eligible Ramp account issued in Canada or the UK.
- AI coding auto-codes the Tax Code field — there is no separate "automated tax coding" toggle. A Ramp Admin turns it on in AI coding settings by having AI coding auto-code the Tax Code field. If AI coding is turned off, or the Tax Code field is not auto-coded, tax is not automated.
- Connected accounting integration — your business must have an active accounting integration with tax codes enabled. See Tax support by integration for ERP-specific requirements.
- Tax codes available in Ramp — tax codes must be synced from your ERP or uploaded and configured in Ramp, depending on the integration. This happens automatically for some integrations when tax support is enabled.
- For reimbursement tax coding only — your business must have reimbursements enabled, and the tax-code tracking category must be included in the reimbursement's accounting requirements. Ramp applies eligible automated tax coding after the employee submits the reimbursement.
How automated tax coding works
When a receipt is attached to a Ramp Card transaction or reimbursement, Ramp reviews the uploaded receipt to extract tax information and determine the correct tax code. Based on the quality and clarity of the receipt, Ramp assigns a confidence level:
- Green shield icon — high confidence automation; all verification criteria met
- Yellow shield icon — reasonable confidence automation; some criteria met, review recommended
- No icon — tax is either not present on the receipt or cannot be automated due to low confidence
Note: When the tax field is editable, you can manually select or override a tax code and amount regardless of the confidence level shown.
Tax coding on reimbursements
Ramp evaluates the receipt after an employee submits an eligible out-of-pocket reimbursement. If the receipt meets the automation criteria, Ramp applies the tax code and supported tax amounts after submission. Ramp does not automatically code tax fields while the reimbursement is a draft.
Existing manual selections, coding rules, defaults, and manual tax amounts take precedence. The reimbursement automation described in this article applies only to the tax-code tracking category and related tax amounts.
Criteria for automating a tax code
Ramp verifies the following four elements from the receipt. The more elements confirmed, the higher the automation confidence:
- Tax amount clearly broken out — the tax is itemized separately from the subtotal and total.
- Vendor location identified — the receipt includes enough detail to determine the jurisdiction.
- Explicit tax type listed — for example, "GST", "HST", or "PST" is clearly written on the receipt.
- Tax rate and amount match jurisdictional expectations — Ramp checks whether the tax rate and amount make sense for the vendor's location.
Example scenarios
| Receipt condition | Badge shown | Automation level |
|---|---|---|
| All 4 criteria met: vendor in Ontario, shows HST, 13%, amount matches expectation | Green | Fully automated |
| Only vendor and tax type identified | Yellow | Fully automated, recommend review by accountant |
| Tax is missing or unclear | No badge | Manual entry required |
Tax support by integration
Each accounting integration has different requirements and capabilities for tax code support. Automated tax coding from receipts is available for each integration listed below when the setup requirements are met.
| Integration | Automated tax coding from receipts | Details |
|---|---|---|
| NetSuite | Available | Requires the feature availability described above and the Tax Code field turned on for auto-coding in AI coding settings. See NetSuite integration: International accounting support for setup details. |
| QuickBooks Online | Available | QBO supports tax coding for non-US locales, such as Canada and the UK. Tax codes sync automatically from QBO for supported locales. |
| Sage Intacct | Available | Sage Intacct supports tax coding with the Tax Detail field. See Sage Intacct integration: Sync taxes for setup details. |
| Universal CSV | Available | Universal CSV supports tax coding through CSV upload of tax rates and codes. It is enabled by default for Canadian businesses. See Universal CSV integration: Tax support for setup details. |
Frequently asked questions
Can I override an automated tax code?
Yes. When the tax field is editable, you can manually select a different tax code regardless of the confidence level shown.
What if my receipt is missing tax info?
Ramp will not apply a tax code unless it meets the minimum confidence threshold. In these cases, no badge will appear and you can manually select a tax code.
Why do I not see the automated tax coding option?
There is no separate "automated tax coding" toggle to switch on or off. Tax coding runs as part of your AI coding settings whenever the Tax Code field is auto-coded (see Prerequisites above). To stop Ramp from automatically coding tax from receipts, open AI coding settings, choose Auto-code selected fields, and turn off the Tax Code field — the rest of AI coding keeps running.
Changing your AI coding settings takes effect going forward. Transactions that haven't been marked ready or synced yet may pick up the change automatically. For a transaction that's marked ready but not yet synced, first mark it as not ready, correct the Tax Code, then mark it ready again. Once a transaction has synced, its accounting fields are locked in Ramp, so make any tax correction in your accounting provider.
Does automated tax coding work for reimbursements?
Yes. Automated tax coding can apply after an employee submits an eligible out-of-pocket reimbursement when your business meets the prerequisites above. Ramp does not automatically code tax fields while the reimbursement is a draft.