Tax inclusive pricing

Tax inclusive pricing lets you display prices that already account for any applicable taxes — so subscribers always see one clear, all-in number. You can set tax inclusivity at the subscription level, and it works seamlessly with Recurly's native tax solution, Avatax, and Vertex.

Available on all Recurly plans

1Definition 2Key benefits 3How it works 4Discounts 5Invoicing 6Recurly.js integration

Definition

Tax inclusive pricing allows merchants to set prices that already include any applicable taxes. Rather than calculating and displaying tax as a separate line item after the fact, the full tax obligation is baked into the displayed price — giving subscribers a consistent, predictable number every time.

Limitations to review before enabling

Once enabled, tax inclusive pricing cannot be disabled on your Recurly site.
The tax inclusivity status of a subscription cannot be changed after it's created.

Prerequisites:

A subscription to Recurly's out-of-box tax solution, or a direct integration with Avatax or Vertex

Key benefits

Transparent pricing Subscribers see one clear number — no surprise tax line at checkout.

Per-subscription flexibility Set tax inclusivity at subscription creation to meet the needs of different customer segments or regions.

Works with your tax stack Compatible with Recurly's native tax solution, Avalara AvaTax, and Vertex — no rework needed.

Invoice control Choose whether taxes appear as a separate line item on invoices or stay hidden inside the all-in price.

How it works

When you create a subscription plan, you configure it as usual. At the point of subscription creation, you select the tax inclusivity status for that subscriber. From that point forward, it's locked in — the subscriber's final price reflects the tax treatment you chose.

For example: a plan priced at $10.00 can produce different final prices for two subscribers if their tax rates differ, while both see a clean, tax-inclusive number at checkout.

Items created outside of the plan page inherit the tax inclusivity status of the associated subscription. For one-time purchases, you can add a charge to an account and select the tax inclusivity preference at that time.

Setting it up Navigate to the pricing settings for subscriptions, plans, items, add-ons, or fees in your Recurly dashboard. Configure the desired price, then select the Tax Inclusive option when creating the subscription.

Discounts and tax inclusivity

Discounts work as expected when tax inclusive pricing is active. Recurly handles the math automatically — you apply the discount, and the system adjusts both the subtotal and the tax amount proportionally.

Discount type	Example	Final price	Breakdown
Percentage discount	20% off a $300.00 tax-inclusive price (10.25% tax rate)	$240.00	$217.69 subtotal + $22.32 tax
Fixed amount discount	$60.00 off a $300.00 tax-inclusive price (10.25% tax rate)	$240.00	$217.69 subtotal + $22.32 tax

To apply a discount: choose the subscription or item, select your discount type (percentage or fixed amount), and apply it. Recurly recalculates automatically.

Invoicing

When tax inclusive pricing is enabled on your site, you can choose whether taxes appear as a separate line item on invoices — or stay folded into the displayed price. This setting lives in your invoice template configuration and is disabled by default.

To configure: go to Invoice templates in your Recurly dashboard, create or edit a template, and toggle the option to show or hide taxes.

Integration with Recurly.js

For accurate tax estimates in Recurly.js, follow this three-step sequence:

Generate a token without a tax inclusive flag

Use Recurly.js to tokenize the billing info as usual — do not pass a tax_inclusive flag at this stage.

Create the purchase or subscription via API

Use API v2 or v3 to create the purchase or subscription. Reference the token from step one in billing_info.token_id, and pass your tax_inclusive flag here.

Use the preview route to show estimated taxes

Before finalizing the purchase, call the preview route to display estimated taxes to your subscriber. This gives them a complete picture of what they'll be charged.

Updated about 8 hours ago