Installation Guide

Get StickTax — the cigar excise tax calculator for BigCommerce — running on your store in under 15 minutes. Configure per-stick rates, wholesale-basis percentages, and state-specific caps for accurate tobacco tax compliance at checkout.

1 Install StickTax

~1 minute

  1. Go to the BigCommerce App Marketplace and search for "StickTax".
  2. Click Install. BigCommerce will ask you to authorize StickTax to access your store's product catalog and tax settings.
  3. Click Confirm. StickTax will install and you'll see a confirmation screen.

What happens during install: StickTax creates a secure connection to your BigCommerce store, pre-populates cigar excise tax rules for all 50 states + DC with 2025 wholesale-basis defaults (all inactive by default), and starts a 14-day free trial. No credit card is needed. Your product catalog with SKUs, variants, and prices will be synced when you click Sync Catalog. You'll enter wholesale costs directly in StickTax.

2 Open StickTax

~30 seconds

After installation, open StickTax from your BigCommerce control panel:

  1. Go to Apps → My Apps in your BigCommerce admin.
  2. Click StickTax.
  3. The StickTax dashboard loads inside your control panel.

3 Sync Your Catalog

~1-2 minutes

  1. Go to the Products tab in StickTax.
  2. Click Sync Catalog from BC.
  3. StickTax pulls all your products and variants from BigCommerce — names, SKUs, prices, and variant labels.
  4. StickTax automatically detects which variants are singles, boxes, and bundles based on your variant labels.

Format detection: StickTax reads your variant labels (e.g. "Toro / Box of 20" or "Robusto / Single") to determine if each variant is a single, box, or bundle. If your labels don't include these terms, you can set the format manually.

4 Ignore Non-Cigar Products

~1-2 minutes

If your store sells accessories, humidors, lighters, cutters, or other non-cigar items, mark them as Ignored so excise tax doesn't apply to them. Sales tax still applies normally.

  1. In the Products tab, expand each non-cigar product.
  2. Click the Ignore button on each variant you want to exclude from excise tax.
  3. Ignored variants appear dimmed with an amber "IGNORED" badge.

Ignore vs. Non-taxable: Use Ignore in StickTax for products that should still collect sales tax but not excise tax. Use BigCommerce's Non-taxable tax class for products that should collect no tax at all.

5 Set Up Profile Classes

~2 minutes

Profile classes tell StickTax how many sticks are in each box type. Common sizes (10, 12, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25) are pre-populated during installation. You can add more or remove ones you don't need.

  1. Go to the Profile Classes tab.
  2. Review the pre-populated classes. Add any additional box sizes you sell.
  3. Enter a name (e.g. "Standard Box 20") and the number of cigars per box (e.g. 20).

After creating classes, go back to the Products tab and assign the appropriate class to each box variant.

6 Configure Excise Tax Rules

~5-10 minutes

This is the core setup. You'll tell StickTax how each state taxes cigars.

  1. Go to the Excise Tax Rules tab. All 50 states + DC are listed.
  2. For each state where you ship cigars, configure:
    • Active: check the box to enable tax calculation for this state
    • Method: select the excise tax method the state uses
    • $ Per Stick: the dollar amount per stick (for per_stick and combo methods)
    • Rate %: the percentage rate (for all percentage methods — applies to whatever basis the method implies, wholesale or MSRP)
    • $ Cap / Stick: the maximum tax per stick (only shown for capped methods and combo)
    • Tiered Cap (Low / High / Threshold): only shown when the method is pct_wholesale_tiered_cap. Cap below the threshold, cap at or above, and the wholesale-per-stick dollar threshold that separates the two tiers. Vermont is the current use case.
    • Applies To: whether the rule applies to all products, singles only, or boxes only
  3. Click Save on each row after configuring.

Important: StickTax provides the calculation engine — you provide the rates. It is your responsibility to ensure your configured rates match current state regulations. Tax laws change, and we recommend consulting a tax professional if you're unsure about specific state requirements.

Common Cigar Excise Tax Methods by State

Here are a few examples of how states tax cigars differently as of 2025. StickTax handles flat per-stick rates, wholesale-basis percentages (capped or uncapped), tiered caps, and combo methods. Always verify current rates with your tax advisor:

7 Configure Sales Tax Rules

~2 minutes

  1. Go to the Sales Tax tab.
  2. For each state where you have sales tax nexus, check Active and enter the sales tax rate (e.g. 7 for 7%).
  3. Click Save on each row.

Note: If you're already using another provider for sales tax and only need StickTax for excise tax, leave all sales tax rules inactive. StickTax will only calculate excise tax.

8 Set Wholesale Costs

~5-10 minutes

For states that use wholesale-basis excise tax methods (most of them), StickTax needs to know the wholesale cost — what you paid your distributor per unit — for each variant. Unlike MSRP, wholesale cost lives inside StickTax, not BigCommerce.

  1. Go to the Products tab in StickTax.
  2. Find the product and expand it to see variants.
  3. In the $ WHOLESALE column, enter your cost per unit — for box/bundle variants enter the full-box wholesale cost (StickTax divides by cigars-per-box from the profile class); for singles enter the per-stick cost.
  4. Changes save automatically when you leave the field.

Re-syncing is safe: clicking Sync Catalog again pulls fresh product data from BigCommerce without overwriting wholesale costs you've already entered.

Legacy MSRP methods: if you're using pct_msrp or pct_msrp_capped for a state, MSRP is still pulled from BigCommerce (Products → Edit → Pricing → MSRP, or Show Advanced Pricing at the variant level). If MSRP isn't set, StickTax falls back to the BigCommerce retail price. For any wholesale-method state where wholesale cost is blank, StickTax uses MSRP × 0.5 as a last-resort estimate — set real wholesale costs for accuracy.

9 Test Your Setup

~2 minutes

  1. Open your storefront in an incognito/private browser window.
  2. Add a cigar product to your cart.
  3. Proceed to checkout and enter a shipping address in a state where you've configured excise tax rules.
  4. After entering the shipping address and selecting a shipping method, you should see the excise tax and/or sales tax lines appear in the order total.

Tax not showing? Verify that: (1) the state has an active excise or sales tax rule in StickTax, (2) the product's SKU exists in your synced catalog (try re-syncing), (3) the product is not set to a non-taxable tax class in BigCommerce, and (4) you've entered a full shipping address including the state.

You're All Set

StickTax is now calculating cigar excise tax and sales tax on every BigCommerce checkout automatically. Whether your customers are ordering singles or boxes, shipping to Indiana or California, StickTax applies the correct per-stick rates, wholesale-basis percentages, and state caps in real time.

Review all tax calculations in the Tax History tab and export CSV reports for your accountant at any time. StickTax keeps a complete audit trail of every excise tax and sales tax calculation committed on your store.

Questions? Contact us at