At a glance
Headline revenue with tax stripped out, the arithmetic sum of BigCommerce’s native total_ex_tax field across every order in the window. This is the figure your finance team recognises: the number that flows to the top line of the P&L before VAT or sales tax is remitted. Where Total Revenue is the customer-billed (tax-inclusive) figure, this card is the same order book net of the tax the merchant merely collects on the government’s behalf and never keeps.
Calculation
total_ex_tax is read directly from the BigCommerce order, it is not derived by subtracting a tax estimate from the gross total. This matters: BigCommerce computes tax per line item against the customer’s tax zone, so the platform’s own ex-tax figure is more accurate than any gross / (1 + rate) shortcut, especially on mixed baskets of standard-rated and zero-rated goods.
Worked example
A UK home and garden brand on BigCommerce, VAT-registered at the standard 20% rate, with a slice of zero-rated children’s items. The 30-day window covers 14 Mar 26 to 12 Apr 26.
What’s interesting here:
- The blended tax rate is 17.7%, not 20%. A finance team that estimates net revenue as
gross ÷ 1.2would land on £412,917, understating true net by ~£8,000 a month, because that shortcut ignores the zero-rated lines. This card reads BigCommerce’s per-linetotal_ex_taxinstead, so it carries the correct blend automatically. - This is the number that reconciles to the accounts. When the bookkeeper posts the month to [Xero or QuickBooks via the accounting feed], the net-revenue line will match this card, not Total Revenue. If the owner reports gross to the board and the accountant reports net, the two will appear to disagree by ~£74,500 every month unless everyone knows which card they are quoting.
- The VAT itself (£74,500) is a liability, not income. The gap between this card and the gross card is the VAT the store collected and owes HMRC. Watching Total Tax Collected alongside this card tells the merchant their quarterly VAT exposure before the return is due.
Sibling cards merchants should reference together
Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard
Where to look in BigCommerce Control Panel: Analytics → Sales shows revenue figures, but the headline tile is tax-inclusive by default. For the ex-tax view, build a custom report under Reports → Orders and add the Total (ex tax) column, or export orders and sum thetotal_ex_tax field. BigCommerce’s tax reporting under Settings → Tax shows the collected-tax side, which is the difference between this card and the gross card.
Why our number may legitimately differ from the BC Control Panel:
Cross-connector reconciliation (when the merchant has connected accounting or payments):
Net of tax, this card is the figure to use for margin and profitability work. Gross revenue inflates every margin ratio by the tax rate; always compute gross-margin and contribution against the ex-VAT line.
Known limitations / merchant FAQs
Should I report gross or ex-VAT revenue to my board? Convention is ex-VAT (net), because VAT is not income, it is tax you collect and remit. Reporting gross overstates the business by the tax rate. Use this card for board reporting, investor updates, and any margin calculation. Use Total Revenue only when you genuinely mean the customer-billed total (for example, reconciling against a payment processor that captured the tax-inclusive charge). Why isn’t this just my gross revenue divided by 1.2? Because not every line is standard-rated. Zero-rated and reduced-rate items (children’s clothing, books, food in the UK; many categories vary by US state) dilute the blended rate below the headline VAT rate. This card reads BigCommerce’s per-linetotal_ex_tax, so it carries the true blend. The ÷ 1.2 shortcut systematically understates net revenue on any store with a mixed basket.
I am a US store with sales tax, not VAT. Does this card still apply?
Yes. total_ex_tax strips US sales tax exactly as it strips VAT. The card is labelled “ex-VAT” for the dominant audience, but the underlying field is jurisdiction-agnostic. US merchants reading this card see revenue before the sales tax they remit to each state.
Why is the gap between this card and Total Revenue different month to month?
Because basket mix moves. A month heavy on zero-rated or out-of-state (tax-exempt) orders shows a smaller gap; a month of standard-rated domestic orders shows a gap close to the full tax rate. A sudden change in the gap is itself a signal: it usually means your product mix or your customers’ geography shifted.
Does this deduct refunds?
No. Like the gross card, this is point-of-capture revenue. For a post-refund net view, read Refund Value alongside it and subtract.
My multi-currency store, what currency does this show?
The card sums total_ex_tax without FX conversion, producing a single mixed-currency number. Use the currencyCode-filtered view for a clean per-currency figure. Per-currency ex-VAT cards are on the roadmap.
Why does the alert use the same 15% threshold as gross revenue?
Because net and gross move together, a real revenue event shows up in both. The 15% floor suppresses tax-mix noise (a few extra zero-rated orders) while still catching genuine net-revenue drops. Low-volume stores can raise the threshold under Settings → Alerts → Alert Rules.