Financial info

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On this tab, you can view the customer’s financial information and configure invoicing settings, payment methods, taxation, and other billing-related options.

Customer, Financial info tab

General info

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Total outstanding balance

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The remaining amount a customer must pay to cover all the invoices in full.

Overdue balance

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The customer's total overdue invoiced amount.

Unallocated payments

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The amount the customer has "overpaid," which will be automatically applied to settle future regular or out-of-turn invoices. Hover over Info Info to such as the time and amount of the corresponding payments.

To check a customer's last invoice, click the Last invoice details. Click Preview Download to download the invoice .pdf file.

Suspend on insufficient funds for subscriptions

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To suspend the customer when their balance or available funds are insufficient to cover the subscription charges, use the Suspend on insufficient funds option.

  • Select As defined by the customer class to use settings defined for the customer class.
  • Select Yes to automatically suspend the customer when they have insufficient funds. Suspended customers cannot use the services, and therefore, no subscription charges are applied. As soon as funds become available, services are resumed, and new charges are generated.
  • Select No to allow the customer with insufficient funds to use the services and charge the full amount of subscription charges afterwards.
If you disable the automatic suspension, customer records already suspended for insufficient funds will not be reactivated automatically. These records will remain suspended until the customer pays the subscription charge (postpaid customers must also pay any overdue invoices in full) or an admin manually changes the customer status to "Active."

Pre-processing rule set

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Apply promotional credits or charges at the end of the billing period depending on whether a specific threshold is reached. Select a set of invoice pre-processing rules to apply to the customer. You can click Show link to open the corresponding invoice pre-processing rule set and see the details.

Invoicing configuration

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Create invoice on demand

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Use invoices on demand to charge the customer immediately for the service usage, equipment purchase, etc., without waiting for the current billing period to close. This way you save the customer's time and provoke early payments.

You can generate these invoices on demand:

  • Initial invoice, which includes charges for the first billing period. You can generate this invoice for the customer during their first billing period only. From then on, use Midterm invoices.
  • Midterm invoice, which covers the charges from the beginning of a current billing period up to the time of the invoice generation.
  • Out-of-turn invoice, which includes manual credit/charge transactions.

The invoice wizard guides you through the configuration steps to generate invoices on demand. It includes these steps:

  • Invoice type, where you select which invoice to generate;
  • Fees, where you review applicable fees and add new ones manually;
  • Invoice review, which shows the invoice summary and where you define the payment terms and due date.
  • Payment, which provides the payment options.

Invoice preview

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You can generate invoice previews. The system simulates the closure of a billing period for a specific customer, calculates all charges, and produces an invoice with a “Preview” watermark (so it can’t be mistaken for a real one) without affecting the customer’s balance or other data.

This feature is available via the Add-on Mart and requires subscription to the corresponding Add-on Mart module.

Send the generated .csv files via email

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Define which statistics to deliver to the customer by email after the billing period ends.

  • Select As defined by the customer class to use the settings defined for the customer class.
  • Select Full statistics to send a .csv file with a complete list of xDRs.
  • Select Summary only to send only a brief summary of charges.
  • Select Do not send to not deliver any statistical data to the customer.

Include charges in the invoice to the main office

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This option is available only for Branch (Site) customers.

Turn on the toggle to include the charges produced for this customer onto the consolidated bill issued to the main office. To avoid discrepancies during tax calculation, disable the tax calculation for this customer and make sure their billing period is the same as that for the main office.

If you disable this option, PortaBilling generates an individual invoice for this customer.

Generate the invoice PDF

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Define whether to generate an invoice PDF file for this customer.

Regular invoice template

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Choose a template for generating regular invoices for this customer.

  • Select As defined by the customer class to use the regular invoice template defined for the customer class.
  • Select Do not create invoice to prevent regular invoice generation for this customer.
  • Choose a predefined regular invoice template from the list.

Out-of-turn invoice template

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Choose an out-of-turn invoice template for this customer.

  • Select As defined by the customer class to use the out-of-turn invoice template defined for the customer class.
  • Select Do not create invoice to prevent out-of-turn invoice generation for this customer.
  • Choose a predefined out-of-turn invoice template from the list.

Separate invoice for recurring fees

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This is a read-only field that shows the configuration of the Separate invoice for the recurring fees option for the customer class level. If it's enabled, it means that PortaBilling will produce separate (out-of-turn) invoices that contain only subscription fees and taxes and automatically deduct this amount from the customer's credit card.

Send regular invoices

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Define whether to deliver regular invoices to the customer by email.

  • Select As defined by the customer class to use the settings defined for the customer class.
  • Select Yes to send regular invoices by email.
  • Select No to not send regular invoices by email.

Send out-of-turn invoices

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Define whether to deliver out-of-turn invoices to the customer by email.

  • Select As defined by the customer class to use the settings defined for the customer class.
  • Select Yes to send out-of-turn invoices by email.
  • Select No to not send out-of-turn invoices by email.

Invoice number sequence

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Define the invoice numbering sequence for this customer.

Billing period

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View or change the customer’s billing period. The billing period defines how often invoices are generated for this customer.

Next billing date

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This is the date when the customer's current billing will be closed (and invoice generated). This field is read-only and is displayed in the customer’s billing time zone.

If you shift the billing date, this field will show the last actual billing date prior to the shift.

Billing period

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This is the customer's current billing period. You can change it to one of the following:

  • Daily – covers a 24-hour period.
  • Weekly – covers a 7-day period (Monday through Sunday). If you create the customer on Wednesday, the first billing period covers the period from Wednesday to Sunday. Further billing periods are from Monday to Sunday and so on.
  • Semimonthly – covers a period from the 1st to the 15th or from the 16th to the last day of the month.
  • Monthly – covers the period from the 1st of a month to the last day of that month.
  • Monthly (anniversary) – covers the period from the Nth day of a month to the day before the Nth day of the following month. For example, if you create a customer on March 19th, their invoices will always cover the period from the 19th of the current month to the 18th of the following month.
  • 30 days – every billing period is exactly 30 days, so if a customer is created on March 20th, their first invoice will cover the period from March 20th to April 18th, the second invoice will cover the period from April 19th to May 18th, and so on.

The new billing period takes effect after the current billing period ends.

After you change the billing period or time zone, the system displays the date when the new settings take effect. This date is shown in your own time zone.

Billing period time zone

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View or change the time zone in which the customer’s billing period is closed and invoices are generated.

Balance

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Batch balance updates for usage charges

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Select the checkbox to accumulate balance and bundle counter changes over a specific interval (by default, 5 seconds) before PortaBilling updates them in the database, reducing the frequency of updates. This option is useful only if you have customers generating high transaction volumes, like large call centers or IoT customers with tens of thousands of IoT SIM cards.

To change the default period (5 seconds), go to the Configuration web server interface, and set a new value for the Rating.PendingBalanceUpdateIntervalCustomer option.

Subscriber-to-subscriber transfers

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Allow end users to transfer prepaid amounts of money among accounts. Only debit and/or credit accounts with individual credit limits can transfer and receive funds.

  • As defined by the customer class – the option configured for the customer class is used.
  • Allowed – accounts with sufficient available funds can transfer funds.
  • Forbidden – accounts are not allowed to transfer available funds.

Payment method

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You can add a preferred payment method for the customer and configure automatic payments.

These options become available only after you configure an external payment system and assign it to the customer’s currency.

Automatic payment configuration is available with payment systems that do not require credit card security code verification (they either store the security code or use tokens to process payments). If the external payment system supports token-based payment processing, automatic payment options become available after the customer adds a payment method in the self-care portal.

Customer, Add payment method

To add a payment method, click + Payment method and enter the required details, such as the credit card number, expiration date, cardholder name, and billing phone number.

To view the payment method details, click Info Info.

To delete the payment method, click Delete delete.

Charge the invoice amount using this method

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This controls whether to charge a customer automatically when a billing period is closed and an invoice is generated. A customer inherits the setting you define on the customer class. Select one of the options to override the setting for this customer:

  • Yes – the customer's credit card will be charged once the invoice is generated.
  • No – the customer's credit card will not be charged automatically.

Use automatic payments

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This automatically charges a customer's credit card whenever their balance crosses a specified threshold. Turn on the toggle to enable this option.

Automatic payment amount

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Specify the amount to charge automatically.

Apply payments when the balance exceeds/drops below

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Specify the threshold amount to apply payments.

Taxation

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Here, you can define how to tax the customer for the provided services. To configure applying taxes to the customer, turn on the Taxation toggle.

Do not use a consolidated invoice for customer hierarchy with external taxation plug-ins like SureTax, because these plug-ins currently have no tax code for consolidated charges, and correct taxes cannot be applied. This limitation does not affect the VAT plug-in, which applies tax to the total amount without requiring service-level codes.

Taxation plug-in

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Choose a taxation plug-in for calculating taxes.

Taxation calculation at the time of the payment is supported by Fixed VAT Rate, Custom taxation, and Generic VAT/GST plug-ins.

Avalara (US, Canada)

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The integration with Avalara is outdated. If you subscribe to Avalara services today, this integration will not be available.

Customer, Avalara integration

Define the parameters for the Avalara plug-in.

Tax ID

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Define the customer’s tax identification number.

Customer type

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Choose the type of customers to whom you provide the services.

  • Select Industrial for manufacturing companies.
  • Select Business for business entities that use the services for business purposes.
  • Select Residential for customers who use the services for personal purposes.

Incorporated city area

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Define the customer location:

  • Select Inside for customers located inside an incorporated city area.
  • Select Outside for customers located outside of an incorporated city area.

Taxation mode

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Define which additional taxes to calculate for the customer:

  • Select Non-switched trunk services to calculate axes on the quantity of DID numbers the customer uses.
  • Select Switched trunk services to calculate taxes for the number of customer sites, extensions and PBX customer's simultaneous outgoing calls.

Lifeline assistance program

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Select whether the customer is entitled to a lifeline assistance program.

Exemptions

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Choose which taxes the customer is exempt from.

SureTax (US, Canada)

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Customer, SureTax integration

Define parameters for the SureTax plug-in.

Tax ID

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Define the customer’s tax identification number.

Tax jurisdiction per account

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Select the checkbox to assess taxes based on each account’s location.

Prior to enabling this option, make sure that the correct ZIP codes are set on accounts ( Account > Personal info > General info > Address info > Postal code). When this option is disabled, the customer’s ZIP code is used to calculate taxes for all their accounts.

If this option is enabled and the customer’s accounts have no ZIP code specified, the customer ZIP code is used instead to assess the taxes, and the administrator receives the corresponding notification on email. If a ZIP code is missing for the customer the taxes won’t be calculated and the customer’s invoice won’t be generated.

Line counting by

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This option allows you to configure the per-line taxation based on the number of customer service lines.

  • Max number of outgoing calls – the number of lines corresponds to the number of simultaneous outgoing calls (allowed on the customer/product level), e.g., 25 simultaneous outgoing calls equal 25 lines. This mode is recommended for SIP trunking customers.
  • Number of accounts – the number of lines is calculated as the number of customer accounts, e.g., 30 customer accounts equal 30 lines. This mode is recommended for cloud PBX customers.
  • Manual entry – the number of lines is assigned manually for the customer.
    • ZIP code – specify a ZIP code to define the tax jurisdiction.
    • Lines – specify the corresponding number of lines. If the customer has users in different locations, click Add Add to add more ZIP codes (tax jurisdictions) with the number of lines. To delete a specific ZIP code with the number of lines, click Delete delete.
  • Non-usage charges (deprecated) – this is available for backward compatibility. The number of lines equals the number of units in xDRs, e.g., one subscription equals one unit.

Tax code for counted lines

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Specify the tax code provided by SureTax to assess per-line taxes.

Rounding precision

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Choose the number of decimal digits to round the tax amount.

SureTax uses mathematical rounding on tax amounts. For example, if you configure to round off the charged amount to two decimal digits, then 1.204 rounds off to 1.20, 1.205, and 1.206 all round off to 1.21.

Sales type

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Choose the type of customers for whom you provide the services.

  • Select Default to apply customer class settings.
  • Select Business for business entities that use the services for business purposes.
  • Select Industrial for manufacturing companies.
  • Select Lifeline for customers granted a subsidy.
  • Select Residential for customers who use the services for personal purposes.

Summary type

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Choose how to display taxes in the customer invoices:

  • Select Default to apply customer class settings.
  • Select No summary to separately display federal, state and local taxes.
  • Select Summary by Federal, State and Local Taxes to display federal, state and local taxes summarized.

Exemptions

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Click + Add exempts to choose which taxes the customer is exempt from.

Fixed VAT Rate

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customer generic vatgst integration

Define parameters for the Fixed VAT Rate plug-in.

Tax ID

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Define the customer’s tax identification number.

Rounding precision

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PortaBilling rounds the tax amount to the pre-defined number of digits applicable to the customer currency.

By default, the tax amount for fixed VAT Rate taxation plug-in rounds upward. For example, if the customer currency is USD which rounding precision is 0.01 (2 decimals), then 1.204, 1.205 and 1.206 all round up to 1.21.

Taxes included into rates/fees

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Choose whether to include taxes in the rates. When taxes are included, PortaBilling back-calculates the defined tax percentage from the total amount of charges or payments. Otherwise, PortaBilling adds a defined percentage of value-added tax to the charges.

Exempt from

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Define whether the customer is excused from taxes:

  • Select Default to apply customer class settings.
  • Select Yes if the customer is not required to pay this tax.
  • Select No to apply a fixed VAT rate to this customer.

VAT, %

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Type a certain percentage of value-added tax.

Tax xDR per service

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Choose whether to calculate taxes per service and include them on invoices. This option is applicable if your rates do not include taxes.

Custom taxation

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Customer, Custom taxation

Define the parameters for the Custom taxation plug-in:

Rounding precision

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PortaBilling rounds the tax amount to the pre-defined number of digits applicable to the customer currency.

By default, the tax amount for custom taxation plug-in rounds upward. For example, if the customer currency is USD which rounding precision is 0.01 (2 decimals), then 1.2 04, 1.2 05 and 1.2 06 all round up to 1. 21.

Taxes included into rates/fees

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Choose whether to include taxes in the rates. When taxes are included in the rates, PortaBilling back-calculates the defined tax percentage from the total amount of charges or payments. Otherwise, PortaBilling adds a defined percentage of value-added tax to the charges.

Taxes

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Choose which custom taxes to apply to this customer. Click + Add to create a new customized tax.

GST (Malaysia)

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Customer, GST (Malaysia) integration

Define parameters for the GST (Malaysia) plug-in:

Tax ID

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Define the customer’s tax identification number.

Rounding precision

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PortaBilling rounds the tax amount to the pre-defined number of digits applicable to the customer currency.

The GST (Malaysia) uses mathematical rounding on tax amounts.

For example, if the customer currency is USD which rounding precision is 0.01 (2 decimals), then 1.2 04 rounds to 1. 20, 1.2 05 and 1.2 06 round to 1. 21.

Relief certificate

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By default, the GST plug-in applies a 6% goods and services tax. If the customer has a relief certificate code which applies 0% tax for goods, type the code in this field.

Expiration date

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Choose the customer's relief certificate expiration date.

Goods

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Choose the goods that fall under the relief certificate with 0% tax.

Compliance Solutions – CSI

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Integration with Compliance Solutions, Inc. (CSI) is available via the Add-on Mart. See how to configure taxation via CSI for a customer here.

Customer, Compliance Solutions (CSI) integration

Tax ID

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Define the customer’s tax identification number.

Test mode (don’t store tax information on CSI side)

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Select the checkbox to check tax processing via CSI for the test customer. With this mode enabled, CSI assesses taxes for the customer (these taxes will be included in invoices), but the info about taxes is not stored on the CSI’s side and is not included in tax reporting.

Tax jurisdiction per account

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Select the checkbox to assess taxes based on each account’s location.

Prior to enabling this option, make sure that the correct ZIP codes are set on accounts ( Account > Personal info > General info > Address info > Postal code). When this option is disabled, the customer’s ZIP code is used to calculate taxes for all their accounts.

If this option is enabled and the customer’s accounts have no ZIP code specified, the customer ZIP code is used instead to assess the taxes, and the administrator receives the corresponding notification on email. If a ZIP code is missing for the customer the taxes won’t be calculated and the customer’s invoice won’t be generated.

Sales type

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Choose the type of customers for whom you provide the services.

  • Select Commercial for business entities that use the services for business purposes.
  • Select Residential for customers who use the services for personal purposes.

Line counting by

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This option allows you to configure the per-line taxation based on the number of customer service lines.

  • Max number of outgoing calls – the number of lines corresponds to the number of simultaneous outgoing calls (allowed on the customer/product level), e.g., 25 simultaneous outgoing calls equal 25 lines. This mode is recommended for SIP trunking customers.
  • Number of accounts – the number of lines is calculated as the number of customer accounts, e.g., 30 customer accounts equal 30 lines. This mode is recommended for cloud PBX customers.
  • Manual entry – the number of lines is assigned manually for the customer.
    • ZIP code – specify a ZIP code to define the tax jurisdiction.
    • Lines – specify the corresponding number of lines. If the customer has users in different locations, click Add Add to add more ZIP codes (tax jurisdictions) with the number of lines. To delete a specific ZIP code with the number of lines, click Delete delete.

Tax code for counted lines

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Specify the tax code provided by CSI to assess per-line taxes.

Rounding precision

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Choose the number of decimal digits to round the tax amount.

Exemptions

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Click + Add exempts to choose which taxes the customer is exempt from.

Generic VAT/GST

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Customer, Generic VAT/GST integration

Define parameters for the Generic VAT/GST plug-in:

Tax ID

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Define the customer’s tax identification number.

Rounding precision

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Choose the number of decimal digits to round the tax amount.

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