Overview
This article shows you how to set one tax zone as the default for all your customer locations. You use a wildcard in the zip code field so any location without a specific tax zone falls back to your chosen default, and all new invoices use it automatically. This saves you from assigning a tax zone to each location one at a time.
Who uses this feature
Administrators, office employees, managers, accountants, and bookkeepers
Applies to all business types
Applies to all trades
Feature configuration
The Edit tax zones permission is required to add or edit tax zones. It is on by default for the Dispatch, Accounting, Field Manager, and Admin roles. To check it, go to Settings > People > Role Permissions (or Technicians > Permissions > Edit) and look under Taxes.
Your locations should be Google-verified with the correct zip code before you start. For more, see Add a new service location.
Things to know
A zip code can belong to only one tax zone. Entering an asterisk (*) in the ZipCodes field assigns that tax zone to every customer by default, unless their address has a zip code listed in another tax zone.
After you create or change tax zones, click Set Tax Zones so customer and location records update.
When a zip code crosses tax lines, meaning two rates apply within the same zip code, create a separate tax zone for each rate. We recommend leaving that shared zip code out of every zone and setting the tax zone manually on each affected location profile. Assigning the shared zip code to the more common zone reduces manual work, but it also raises the chance that a location gets the wrong rate without anyone noticing.
If your service area has many zip codes that cross tax lines, consider the Avalara integration instead of managing tax zones manually.
There is no way to bulk-update open invoices to a changed tax zone. Each open invoice must be updated individually.
For a Pending invoice, click the refresh button next to the tax field to pull the current tax zone. For a Posted invoice that should get the changed zone, unpost it first, then click refresh tax.
Apply a default tax zone to all customers
Make sure your locations are Google-verified with the correct zip code. For more, see Create a new location record.
Go to the top toolbar and click Settings
. In the side panel, go to Invoicing > Tax Zones. You can also type Tax Zones in the Settings search bar. 
Find the tax zone you want to make the default for all locations and click Edit.
Add an asterisk (*) in the ZipCodes field, click Save, then click Set Tax Zones.
Note: To set all customers with a zip code that starts with 980, enter 980*. To choose all zip codes that begin with 9, enter 9***.
When the pop-up appears, click OK.
All locations without a tax zone set are now set to that tax zone on the location profile, and all new invoices default to it.