[Due for payment 2026-05-07] [$500] Distance - Tax amount field is not zero on confirm page when tax reclaimable on is empty

[mitarachim]

If you haven’t already, check out our contributing guidelines for onboarding and email contributors@expensify.com to request to join our Slack channel!

---

Version Number: 9.3.4-0
Reproducible in staging?: Yes
Reproducible in production?: Yes
If this was caught during regression testing, add the test name, ID and link from BrowserStack: https://test-management.browserstack.com/projects/2219752/test-runs/TR-3027/folder/13176744/41237171/1131711219
Email or phone of affected tester (no customers): shiubdhibudhsisubhdsi@gmail.com
Issue reported by: Applause Internal Team
Bug source: Exploratory - Significant User Experience Deterioration
Device used: Mac 26.1 / Chrome
App Component: Money Requests

Action Performed:

Precondition:

• Distance rates and Taxes are enabled.
• Track tax is enabled in Distance rates settings.

1. Go to staging.new.expensify.com
2. Go to workspace settings > Distance rates.
3. Open the default rate.
4. Click Tax rate.
5. Select Tax rate 5% (can be any rate as long as it is not 0%).
6. Leave Tax reclaimable on empty.
7. Go to workspace chat.
8. Click + > Track distance > Manual.
9. Enter amount > Next.
   → On confirm page, Tax amount field is not zero (0.35).
10. Click Create expense.
11. Open the distance expense.
    → Tax amount field is 0.00, which is expected because Tax reclaimable on is empty.

Expected Result:

In Step 9, on confirm page, Tax amount field should be zero because Tax reclaimable on is empty.

Actual Result:

In Step 9, on confirm page, Tax amount field is not zero (0.35) when Tax reclaimable on is empty.

In Step 11, in the transaction thread, Tax amount field is 0.00, which is expected.

Workaround:

Unknown

Platforms:

• Android: App
• Android: mWeb Chrome
• iOS: App
• iOS: mWeb Safari
• iOS: mWeb Chrome
• Windows: Chrome
• MacOS: Chrome / Safari

Screenshots/Videos

Bug7051974_1768666936500.9.mp4

View all open jobs on GitHub

Upwork Automation - Do Not Edit

• Upwork Job URL: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022014773705505397202
• Upwork Job ID: 2014773705505397202
• Last Price Increase: 2026-05-04
• Automatic offers:
• etCoderDysto | Contributor | 110364206

Issue Owner

Current Issue Owner: @mallenexpensify

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to @CortneyOfstad (Bug), see https://stackoverflow.com/c/expensify/questions/14418 for more details. Please add this bug to a GH project, as outlined in the SO.

[nyomanjyotisa]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

Distance - Tax amount field is not zero on confirm page when tax reclaimable on is empty

What is the root cause of that problem?

When "Tax reclaimable on" is empty, taxClaimablePercentage is undefined. In getTaxableAmount(), when taxClaimablePercentage is undefined, it defaults to 1 (100%), so tax is calculated on the full amount instead of 0

App/src/libs/DistanceRequestUtils.ts

Line 345 in eafbcff

const taxClaimablePercentage = customUnitRate.attributes?.taxClaimablePercentage ?? 1;

This causes the confirm page to show a non-zero tax amount. After creation, the backend sets taxAmount to 0, which is why it shows correctly in the transaction thread

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

Change the default value from 1 to 0 in getTaxableAmount() when taxClaimablePercentage is undefined, so when "Tax reclaimable on" is empty, the taxable amount is 0 and the tax amount is 0

    const taxClaimablePercentage = customUnitRate.attributes?.taxClaimablePercentage ?? 0;

App/src/libs/DistanceRequestUtils.ts

Line 345 in eafbcff

const taxClaimablePercentage = customUnitRate.attributes?.taxClaimablePercentage ?? 1;

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

None

[etCoderDysto]

Proposal

Please re-state the problem that we are trying to solve in this issue.

Tax amount field is not zero on confirm page when tax reclaimable on is empty

What is the root cause of that problem?

In getTaxableAmount function we fallback to "1" when taxClaimablePercentage is undefined. And tax amount will be caculated based on the full distance expense amount

App/src/libs/DistanceRequestUtils.ts

Lines 336 to 345 in eafbcff

	function getTaxableAmount(policy: OnyxEntry<Policy>, customUnitRateID: string, distance: number) {
	const distanceUnit = getDistanceRateCustomUnit(policy);
	const customUnitRate = getDistanceRateCustomUnitRate(policy, customUnitRateID);
	if (!distanceUnit?.customUnitID || !customUnitRate) {
	return 0;
	}
	const unit = distanceUnit?.attributes?.unit ?? CONST.CUSTOM_UNITS.DISTANCE_UNIT_MILES;
	const rate = customUnitRate?.rate ?? CONST.DEFAULT_NUMBER_ID;
	const amount = getDistanceRequestAmount(distance, unit, rate);
	const taxClaimablePercentage = customUnitRate.attributes?.taxClaimablePercentage ?? 1;

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

we should fall back to CONST.DEFAULT_NUMBER_ID (0) when taxClaimablePercentage is undefined

    const taxClaimablePercentage = customUnitRate.attributes?.taxClaimablePercentage ?? CONST.DEFAULT_NUMBER_ID;

Note:
The issue was introduced by this PR. One of the issues it was trying to solve is this issue. We have to fix this issue too.

To fix issue

1. We can return "0" when taxRateExternalID doesn't exist. This means we return 0 taxable amount when there is no tax associated with the distance rate

if (!distanceUnit?.customUnitID || !customUnitRate || !customUnitRate?.attributes?.taxRateExternalID) {
        return 0;
    }

Or
2. We can set the distances rate's customUnitRate.attributes property of the distance rate to empty array from backend, optimistically too when the user deletes a tax rate associated with distance rate.

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)

Reminder: Please use plain English, be brief and avoid jargon. Feel free to use images, charts or pseudo-code if necessary. Do not post large multi-line diffs or write walls of text. Do not create PRs unless you have been hired for this job.

[yatin-italy]

Proposal

Restate the problem this issue is trying to solve.

• The distance confirm page shows tax greater than zero.
• This happens when “Tax reclaimable on” is empty.
• The saved expense correctly has zero tax.
• Preview and saved data do not match.

What is the root cause of that problem?

• Some distance rates do not include taxClaimablePercentage.
• The value is undefined when “Tax reclaimable on” is blank.
• Tax math then defaults to 100% in the preview.

What changes do you think we should make in order to solve the problem?

• Distance rates must always return taxClaimablePercentage.
• If it is missing, default it to 0%.
• Do this in the shared accessor so all callers get the same data.

File: src/libs/PolicyUtils.ts
Function: getDistanceRateCustomUnitRate

Code delta (apply verbatim):

function getDistanceRateCustomUnitRate(policy: OnyxEntry<Policy>, customUnitRateID: string): Rate | undefined {
    const distanceUnit = getDistanceRateCustomUnit(policy);
    const rate = distanceUnit?.rates[customUnitRateID];
    if (!rate) {
        return undefined;
    }
    const taxClaimablePercentage = rate.attributes?.taxClaimablePercentage ?? CONST.DEFAULT_NUMBER_ID;
    return {
        ...rate,
        attributes: {
            ...(rate.attributes ?? {}),
            taxClaimablePercentage,
        },
    };
}

What alternative solutions did you explore? (Optional)
Add a fallback in DistanceRequestUtils.getTaxableAmount. Not chosen. It is late in the flow and duplicates logic.The shared data contract would still be wrong.

[melvin-bot]

Job added to Upwork: https://www.upwork.com/jobs/~022014773705505397202

[melvin-bot]

Triggered auto assignment to Contributor-plus team member for initial proposal review - @ZhenjaHorbach (External)