10 simple steps to move Tax Codes between SAP clients and systems

SAP Expert recently wrote about the mechanism that allows moving configuration objects between clients in the SAP system and between the systems themselves.

This mechanism, the Transport System, is used for almost all the objects in SAP. However, there are some exceptions that require “special treatment”. They include Substitutions and Validations, Number ranges, and so on. Today we will talk about Tax Codes.

SAP Expert believes there are at present no SAP Finance-related blogs, sites, or other resources that have reference to the tax code transport procedure. It is now SAP Expert’s turn to write about it.

There are 10 simple steps that allow you to move tax codes between the clients and between the systems.

1. Run transaction code FTXP, specify country and create or change necessary tax codes, including their rates. Save your changes. Leave the transaction. Please note: you should only change the tax rate in the tax code if it has never been posted in the Production system. Otherwise you may face inconsistency in the reports.
2. Run FTXP again, specify the country, and then without getting into any tax code details (!) select menu Tax code – Transport – Export.
3. Include the tax codes in question in the Transport Request and save.
4. Move transport to the target client via SCC1 or transport system.
5. Open the client. You may need to ask the Basis team to do so. They usually know about this exceptional procedure for tax codes, so will be happy to help.
6. Run transaction FTXP in the target client, specify the country, and then without getting into any tax code details (!) select menu Tax code – Transport – Import.
7. Select your Transport Request and country, run the importing process. This generates a batch input session that will be executed immediately.
8. Run transaction SM35 and check that the batch input session finished without any error.
9. Close the client. You may need to ask the Basis team to do so.
10. Check tax codes and their rates. Yes, you need to do so after closing the client. This is to avoid the temptation of manual “adjustments” to the tax codes in the target client.

SAP Expert would like to add a small remark here. In addition to tax codes and their tax rates, you also need to ensure that assignment of GL accounts has also been imported in the target client. If for whatever reason GL account assignment has not been properly moved, go to transaction code OB40, select the relevant Posting Transaction (VST, MWS…), specify the Chart of Accounts and then choose a menu Posting Transaction – Transport – Entries in TR. You can move the GL account assignment between the clients and systems with the usual process. No “special treatment” is required for this change.