Installing and setting up CereTax for D365 Finance & Operations
Installing CereTax
A deployable package will be provided to install the CereTax extension for Microsoft Dynamics Finance and Operations. This deployable package will contain the compiled CereTax model. Depending on your D365 environment, there are different ways to deploy the CereTax integration:
Use Microsoft Dynamics Lifecycle Services (LCS) (preferred)
Use a deployable package (Manual install from the command line)
We recommend testing the CereTax extension in a QA or UAT environment prior to deploying it to your production environment. Updates to the extension are installed in the same manner as the initial installation.
Integration Setup
After the CereTax extension for Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations is installed, the next step is to go through the initial integration setup, which consists of connecting to the CereTax platform, creating CereTax tax groups, and loading CereTax data.
Go to Modules > Tax > CereTax integration> CereTax integration settings
Click on the “CereTax integration set-up” tab
Connect to CereTax
This step links your CereTax account and profile to your Dynamics365 for Finance and Operations instance. Under “Connect to CereTax”, do the following:
Enter your CereTax API Key
Select the CereTax environment you are connecting to
Enter your CereTax sales profile
Click Test Connection
A notification will display indicating whether the connection to CereTax was successful or not. If the connection was not successful, check the following:
Verify that your API key was entered correctly
Verify that your network connectivity is working as expected.
If these steps do not resolve your connection to CereTax, reach out to your implementation specialist to help troubleshoot the issue.
Create CereTax Tax Groups
This step creates a CereTax sales tax group and item sales tax group with a shared CereTax tax code. When a customer and item are both assigned to tax groups with the CereTax tax code, D365 will use CereTax to calculate tax on the transaction.
Under “Create CereTax tax groups”, do the following:
Select a Ledger posting group for the CereTax sales tax code
Select a settlement period for the CereTax sales tax code
Select a currency for the CereTax sales tax code
Click “Create CereTax tax groups”
Load CereTax Data
After the connection to CereTax has been set-up, CereTax master data will need to be populated. CereTax master data is used to populate various dropdowns within the integration for inputs that are used to calculate tax.
Under “Load CereTax data”, do the following:
Click on the “Load CereTax Data” button
A notification will display once the CereTax data has been successfully loaded.
*This step should be completed monthly to ensure the CereTax integration has the latest master data.
Sales Settings
After the initial integration setup is complete, you will need to configure the integration for sales transactions:
Go to Modules > Tax > CereTax Integration> CereTax integration settings
Click on the “CereTax sales settings” tab
Enable CereTax
The Enable CereTax toggle controls whether the CereTax extension is enabled or disabled:
When the toggle is turned off, the CereTax extension is disabled and no requests to CereTax will be made to calculate tax
When the toggle is turned on, the CereTax extension is enabled and requests will be made to CereTax to calculate tax when CereTax-enabled tax groups are used
Default Tax Groups
This step defines the default sales tax group and item sales tax group that will be assigned to all new Customers and Items.
Under “Default tax groups”, do the following:
Select a sales tax group to assign all new Customers. This should be the “CereTax” sales tax group created during the initial integration set-up.
Select an item sales tax group to assign all new Items. This should be the “CereTax” sales tax group created during the initial integration set-up.
Invoice Defaults
This step defines invoice-level defaults for required fields in CereTax tax calculation requests.
Under “Invoice defaults”, do the following:
Select a default Business Type to be used on sales transactions.
Select a default Customer Type to be used on sales transactions.
The Customer Type setting is also configurable on individual customer records. The CereTax integration will look up the customer typesetting in the following order: Customers > Sales settings.
Line-item Defaults
The step defines line-item defaults for fields use in CereTax tax calculation requests.
Under “Line item defaults”, do the following:
Select a default PS Code to be used on sales transactions
Select a default unit type to be used on sales transactions.
Set-up the Tax Included setting - When the toggle is turned off, all revenue amounts will be considered exclusive of tax and tax will be calculated based on the revenue amount passed on each line item. - When the toggled is turned on, all revenue amounts will be considered inclusive of tax and tax will be back-calculated from the revenue amount passed on each line item
Set-up any custom attributes you want passed on sales transactions. - CereTax can accept an unlimited number of custom attributes. Attributes are passed to CereTax using Key / Value pairs. In this grid, you can enter custom attributes that will be passed to CereTax on every transaction request.
The PS Code, Unit Type, and Attribute settings are also configurable on Items, Item Categories, and General ledger parameters.
Address Validation Settings
After the initial integration and sales setup is complete, you will need to configure the integration for address validation:
Go to Modules > Tax > CereTax Integration> CereTax integration settings.
Click on the “CereTax address validation” tab.
Address validation settings
These settings define how address validation will be handled within the integration.
Under “Address validation settings”, evaluate and set-up the following:
Validate customer and vendor addresses - When the toggle is turned off, address validation must be triggered manually when new addresses are added to the system. - When the toggle is turned on, address validation will be done automatically upon saving a new address to the system.
Validate addresses on every transaction - When the toggle is turned off, addresses will not be validated on every transaction request. - When the toggle is turned on, addresses will be validated on every transaction request.
Update address details with validated address results - When the toggle is turned off, only the location information (latitude, longitude, and plus code) will be updated in D365. The original street address, city, state, and postal code record will remain unchanged. - When the toggle is turned on, both location information (latitude, longitude, and plus code) and street address, city, state, and postal code will be updated in D365.
Address validation countries
This setting defines the countries address validation will be completed for. Currently, CereTax only supports address validation in the US. To set up address validation for US addresses, do the following:
Under “Address validation countries, Click “+ New” and add every variation of the US country in your system (ex. US, USA, etc.) to the grid.
Customer Settings
Optional customer settings can be configured on individual customer records. To configure CereTax customer settings, open a customer record and expand the "CereTax customer settings" tab.
Customer Type
Individual customers can be assigned a customer type. To configure a customer's customer type, select a Customer Type from the drop-down. A selection made here will override the selection in the Sale settings for this Customer.
Customer Exemptions
Individual customers can be assigned exemptions. To configure exemptions for a customer, do the following:
Select Add from the menu under “Exemptions”.
Select exemption criteria from the drop-downs: - State - Tax level - Tax type - Tax type class
Define the exemption percent (the default is 1.00 or 100%).
Define a Reason for the exemption, ex. “Resale”.
To delete an exemption from a customer
Select the individual exemption(s) you want to delete.
Select Delete from the menu under “Exemptions”.
Confirm the exemption delete.
Product-related Settings
There are optional product-related settings that can be set-up on Items, Item Groups, and GL ledger parameters. Each of these entities has a “CereTax product settings” tab for managing CereTax configurations. Any selection made in the "CereTax product settings" tab for these entities will override the default settings set-up in the integration settings.
For all document types except free text invoices, the integration will look up the values for PS Code and Unit Type in the following order: Items > Item Groups > Sales settings.
For free text invoices, the integration will look up the values for PS Code and Unit Type in the following order: GL ledger parameters > Sales settings.
Items
To configure these settings for Items, do the following:
Go to Modules > Product information management > Released products.
Select an existing Item or create a new Item.
Assign the Item to a CereTax-enabled Sales tax group
Open the “CereTax product settings” tab. - PS code: Select a PS code to be used on sales transactions for the Item Group - Unit type: Select a Unit type to be used on sales transactions for the Item Group
Item Groups
To configure these settings for Item Groups, do the following:
Go to Modules > Inventory management >Setup > Inventory > Item groups.
Select an existing Item Group or create a new Item Group
On the Item Group record, open the “CereTax product settings” tab. - PS code: Select a PS code to be used on sales transactions for the Item Group - Unit type: Select a Unit type to be used on sales transactions for the Item Group - Item Attributes: Enter custom attributes to be used on sales transactions for the Item Group
GL Ledger Parameters
To configure these settings for General ledger parameters, do the following:
Go to Modules > General ledger > Ledger setup > General ledger parameters.
Open the “CereTax product settings” tab under the “Ledger” tab. - PS code: Select a PS code to be used on sales transactions for the Item Group - Unit type: Select a Unit type to be used on sales transactions for the Item Group - Item Attributes: Enter custom attributes to be used on sales transactions for the Item Group
Charge Codes
Charge codes can be set-up to support calculating tax on invoice and line-level shipping, handling, insurance, and other miscellaneous transaction charges.
To set-up charge codes:
Go to Modules > Accounts receivable > Charges setup > Charges code.
Select an existing Charge code or create a new Charge code.
Assign the Charge code to a CereTax-enabled Item sales tax group.
Open the “CereTax settings” tab and make selections for the following fields: - Charge type: Select a charge type for the charge code. - Freight on board: If the charge type is “Shipping” or “Shipping and handling”, select a freight on board option for the charge code. - Delivery type: If the charge type is “Shipping” or “Shipping and handling”, select a delivery type option for the charge code. - Mandatory charge: Indicate if the charge is mandatory or not.
Calculating Tax on Sales Transactions
Calculating Tax
Tax is calculated on a sales transaction any time you perform one of the following tasks:
Open the temporary sales tax transaction window for a sales transaction
View totals for a sales transaction
Send a quote
Post an order, return order, or free text invoice
Viewing Sales Tax Details
After tax is calculated on a sales transaction, the details of the tax calculated can be viewed on the temporary sales tax transaction window under the “CereTax tax details” tab. This view will provide a line-level break-down of the taxes calculated on the transaction.
Transaction Logs
The CereTax request and response for each sales transaction is logged in D365. The request and response can be used to help troubleshoot any transaction-related issues that occur with the CereTax integration. The transaction logs can be accessed by doing the following:
Go to the sales quote, order, or invoice you want to view the logs for
Open the CereTax menu from the header of the document.
Click on the “Transaction log”
The most recent request and response for the transaction will be available in the logs.
Address Validation
The address validation component of the CereTax integration attempts to validate and normalize addresses and determine an address' physical location, up to rooftop-level precision. Address validation can be performed on individual addresses or through a batch process. Address validation is available for Customer, Site, Warehouse, and Legal entity addresses.
Individual address validation
Individual address validation can be performed by following these steps:
Navigate to an existing Customer, Site, or Warehouse record and open the record.
Under the “Addresses” tab, select “Add” for new addresses or “Edit” for existing addresses.
Enter the address information or make any required changes.
If automatic address validation is enabled, the validation will be done upon clicking “OK”. Otherwise, select “Validate” to trigger address validation.
The results of the address validation will display in the side panel window. Select “Accept” to accept the validated address. Select “Reject” to continue with the original address.
If an error was encountered during address validation, the details of the error will display in the side panel window. Select “Edit Address” to update the address and re-validate. Select Save Address to leave the address as-is
Batch address validation
The CereTax integration supports bulk address validation addresses using F&O's batch processing. An initial batch address validation is recommended as part of the integration implementation. This ensures all existing addresses are validated prior to being used in tax calculation requests. If address data is added to your D365 instance outside of the UI, it is recommended that you also set up a recurring batch, so any new addresses added to the system are validated on a regular basis. Batch address validation can be performed by following these steps:
Under “Batch address validation”, select the address types you want included in your batch.
Click on “Create address validation batch” to open the batch set-up side panel.
Configure your batch's Main configuration: - Batch processing - Task description - Batch group - Private - Critical Job - Monitoring category
Configure your batch's Recurrence settings.
Configure your batch's Alerts settings.
Select "OK" when finished configuring the batch settings.
When an address validation batch finishes, any addresses that could not be validated or generated an error will be logged. These addresses can be viewed by clicking “Batch address validation errors” under the Batch address validation tab under CereTax Integration > CereTax address validation. Addresses on this list will be removed once they are corrected, re-validated, and saved.
Data imports andexports
The CereTax integration supports exporting and importing customer and item records, enabling these record types to be updated in bulk.
Customers
Customer records can be exported and updated with customer sales tax groups and CereTax customer types. To export and update customer records, do the following:
Export Customers
Go to Workspaces > Data management
Click on “Export”
Under the “Export” tab, enter a “Group name”
Under the “Selected entities” table, select “Add entity”
On the “Add entity” menu, - Select CT_CustomerEntity in the Entity name drop-down - Select a file format for the file to bedownloaded in - Set “Skip staging” to No - Click “Add” - Click “Close”
From the top menu on the Export page, select “Exportoptions” and click on “Export now”
After the export processes, click on “Download file” under the “Entity processing status” table.
Enter Customer Updates
The exported customer file will include five columns:
ACCOUNTNUM
CUSTOMERTYPE
LEGALENTITY
NAME
TAXGROUP
Open the exported customer file, make changes to TAXGROUP and/or CUSTOMERTYPE, and save the file.
Import Customer Updates
Go to Workspaces > Data management
Click on “Import”
Under the “Import” tab, enter a “Group name”
Under the “Selected entities” table, select “Add file”
On the “Add file” menu - Select the format of the file being imported from the “Source data format” drop-down - Select “CT_CustomerEntity“ from the Entity namedrop-down - Click on “Upload and add” and select the customer file to be imported - Close the Add file menu
From the top menu on the Import page, select “Import options” and click on “Import now”
Under the “Entity processing status”, click on“View staging data”
Click on “Copy data to target” from the top menu bar and click OK on the form that opens
Click on “Run” from the top menu bar
The import will be summarized on a new page and any errors will be included under “Message”
Items
Item records can be exported and updated with item sales tax groups and CereTax PS Code assignments. To export and update item records, do the following:
Export Items
Go to Workspaces > Data management
Click on “Export”
Under the “Export” tab, enter a “Group name”
Under the “Selected entities” table, select “Add entity”
On the “Add entity” menu: - Select “CT_ItemEntity” in the Entity namedrop-down - Select a file format for the file to be downloaded in - Set “Skip staging” to No - Click “Add” - Click “Close”
From the top menu on the Export page, select “Export options” and click on “Export now”
After the export processes, click on “Download file” under the “Entity processing status” table
Enter Item Updates
The exported item file will include five columns:
ITEMID
LEGALENTITY
NAME
PSCODE
TAXITEMGROUPID
Open the exported item file, make changes to PSCODE and/or TAXITEMGROUPID, and save the file.
Import Item Updates
Go to Workspaces > Data management
Click on “Import”
Under the “Import” tab, enter a “Group name”.
Under the “Selected entities” table, select “Add file”.
On the “Add file” menu - Select the format of the file being imported from the “Source data format” drop-down - Select “CT_ItemEntity“ from the Entity namedrop-down - Click on “Upload and add” and select the item file to be imported - Close the Add file menu
From the top menu on the Import page, select “Import options” and click on “Import now”.
Under the “Entity processing status”, click on “View staging data”.
Click on “Copy data to target” from the top menu bar and click OK on the form that opens.
Click on “Run” from the top menu bar.
The import will be summarized on a new page and any errors will be included under “Message”.
Uninstalling CereTax for D365 Finance & Operations
Uninstalling the CereTax extension will remove all CereTax-related functionality, including address validation, tax calculation, and CereTax-specific tax data. All transactional history will be maintained inD365, but CereTax-specific tax details will only be accessible within the CereTax portal.
The CereTax extension can be uninstalled through the following steps:
Open command prompt as administrator
Go to AOSService\PackagesLocalDirectory\Bin folder
Run following command - modelutil -delete-metadatastorepath=C:\AOSService\PackagesLocalDirectory – - modelname="Ceretax_model"
