Sales tax the way each state does it

Until now every bid priced sales tax the California way: on material cost, inside the number before overhead and margin. Washington doesn't work like that. Neither does Oregon, or Hawaii.

A bid now carries its tax treatment. When you start an estimate on a job in a state you have rules for, it picks up that state's treatment and rate:

• On materials, inside your cost — California (shown to you, not the customer) and Nevada (not shown to anyone; you paid it at the counter).
• On the whole contract price, added on top — Washington retail. Labor is taxed too. The proposal shows the tax as its own line under the Total Bid, with a Total Including Tax. Your bid price and your contract value stay "plus tax", the way they should.
• None — Oregon. A rate you leave in the box does nothing.

Change it on the estimate if the job is different. If your pins drift from the state's rules the builder says so next to the control; it never changes your numbers behind your back.

Gross-receipts taxes (B&O, GET, CAT) get a rate on the bid and a choice: a line the customer pays, the way Hawaii's GET is usually billed, or a cost you carry against your margin, the way Washington's B&O works. The builder shows what it costs you either way.

Exemption certificates. A reseller permit, a government or nonprofit exemption — record it once on the job's Tax panel (above the estimate) with its number and expiry, and sales tax drops to zero on that job. The day the certificate expires, tax comes back on its own and the panel tells you in red. Record your tax role on the job there too; on a Washington job the panel explains what each role usually means.

Change orders follow the same treatment as the bid they change, and the budget carries material tax only where the state puts it in your cost.