Global exposure tracking

Overview

Commenda’s exposure engine evaluates your transaction data against registration threshold rules for jurisdictions worldwide. It determines whether your business has exceeded — or is approaching — the point where you must register to collect and remit indirect tax in a given jurisdiction. The exposure engine supports:

US economic thresholds — state-level sales and transaction count thresholds (post-Wayfair)
Canada GST/HST — federal and provincial thresholds
UK VAT — standard UK VAT registration threshold
EU country-level VAT — per-country thresholds for EU member states
EU trade bloc rules — Union OSS, Non-Union OSS, and IOSS schemes with cross-border scope

Key concepts

Exposure rules

Each jurisdiction has one or more exposure rules that define when registration is required. A rule specifies:

Field	Description
`exposure_rule_id`	Unique identifier for the rule
`exposure_type`	The type of tax obligation (`EXPOSURE`, `EXPOSURE_ECONOMIC`, or `EXPOSURE_PHYSICAL`)
`threshold_type`	Whether the threshold is based on `SALES_ONLY`, `SALES_OR_TRANSACTIONS`, or `SALES_AND_TRANSACTIONS`
`sales_threshold`	Revenue amount that triggers registration
`transactions_threshold`	Transaction count that triggers registration
`evaluation_period_type`	Time window for measuring activity (e.g., `PRECEDING_12_MONTHS`, `PREVIOUS_OR_CURRENT_CALENDAR_YEAR`)
`location_based_scope`	Which transactions count toward the threshold (`DESTINATION`, `WORLDWIDE`, `INTRA_COMMUNITY`, or `IMPORT`)
`exclusion_types`	Transaction types excluded from threshold calculations (e.g., marketplace, B2B, resale)
`establishment_types`	Business establishment types that determine which rule variant applies
`max_transaction_value`	Maximum per-transaction value for inclusion (e.g., €150 for IOSS)

Multi-rule jurisdictions

Some jurisdictions have multiple rules that apply based on your business’s establishment status. For example, an EU member state may have:

A resident rule for businesses with a physical establishment in that country (e.g., office, warehouse)
A non-resident rule for businesses selling into the country without a local establishment

The engine automatically selects the applicable rules based on your registered locations.

Location-based scope

Rules define which transactions count toward the threshold based on the geographic relationship between buyer and seller:

Scope	Description
`DESTINATION`	Transactions where the buyer is in the rule’s jurisdiction
`WORLDWIDE`	All transactions regardless of destination
`INTRA_COMMUNITY`	Cross-border transactions within a trade bloc (e.g., EU seller to EU buyer in a different member state)
`IMPORT`	Transactions where the seller is outside the trade bloc and the buyer is inside

Exclusions

Certain transactions are automatically excluded from threshold calculations when the rule defines exclusions:

Marketplace transactions — sales facilitated by a marketplace that collects tax on your behalf
B2B transactions — sales to business customers identified by a business identification number (e.g., VAT number), which are typically subject to reverse charge
Resale transactions — sales to customers with valid resale certificates
Product taxability — specific product categories excluded per jurisdiction rules (e.g., tangible goods excluded from digital services thresholds)
Destination registered — transactions to jurisdictions where you are already registered

Max transaction value (IOSS)

The EU Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) scheme applies only to consignments valued at or below €150. Transactions exceeding this cap are excluded from IOSS threshold tracking. An invoice exactly equal to the cap is included.

Querying exposure data

Use the registration thresholds endpoint with v2=true to retrieve exposure data across all supported jurisdictions:

curl -X GET "https://transaction-tax.api.in.commenda.io/api/v1/nexus?corporation_id={corporation_id}&v2=true" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your_token>"

Response structure

The v2 response returns an array of jurisdiction objects, each representing one exposure rule evaluation:

{
  "data": {
    "corporation_id": "74df772f-9260-42cf-9c20-3b613b60fecd",
    "jurisdictions": [
      {
        "jurisdiction_id": "STATE_US_NY_1036",
        "jurisdiction_type": "STATE",
        "jurisdiction_name": "New York",
        "exposure_type": "EXPOSURE_ECONOMIC",
        "exposure_rule_id": "us_ny_economic",
        "subdivision": "NY",
        "currency": "USD",
        "rule": {
          "sales_threshold": 500000,
          "transactions_threshold": null,
          "threshold_type": "SALES_ONLY",
          "evaluation_period_type": "PREVIOUS_OR_CURRENT_CALENDAR_YEAR",
          "location_based_scope": "DESTINATION",
          "exclusion_types": ["TRANSACTION.MARKETPLACE"],
          "establishment_types": []
        },
        "calculation": {
          "included_sales": 320000,
          "included_transactions": 1500,
          "gross_sales": 350000,
          "gross_transactions": 1800,
          "sales_exposure_percentage": 0.64,
          "transactions_exposure_percentage": 0
        },
        "is_nexus_breached": false,
        "recommended_registration_content_ids": ["REG_STATE_CEN_36"]
      },
      {
        "jurisdiction_id": "TRADEBLOC_EU_3000",
        "jurisdiction_type": "TRADEBLOC",
        "jurisdiction_name": "EU Union OSS",
        "exposure_type": "EXPOSURE",
        "exposure_rule_id": "eu_union_oss",
        "subdivision": "",
        "currency": "EUR",
        "rule": {
          "sales_threshold": 10000,
          "transactions_threshold": null,
          "threshold_type": "SALES_ONLY",
          "evaluation_period_type": "PREVIOUS_OR_CURRENT_CALENDAR_YEAR",
          "location_based_scope": "INTRA_COMMUNITY",
          "exclusion_types": ["CUSTOMER.B2B"],
          "establishment_types": [],
          "max_transaction_value": 150
        },
        "calculation": {
          "included_sales": 8500,
          "included_transactions": 42,
          "gross_sales": 12000,
          "gross_transactions": 60,
          "sales_exposure_percentage": 0.85,
          "transactions_exposure_percentage": 0
        },
        "is_nexus_breached": false,
        "recommended_registration_content_ids": ["REG_TRADEBLOC_EU_3000_UOSS"]
      }
    ]
  },
  "message": "Successfully fetched nexus."
}

Response fields

Each jurisdiction object includes:

Field	Description
`jurisdiction_id`	Internal identifier for the jurisdiction. For trade bloc rules, this is the trade bloc ID (e.g., `TRADEBLOC_EU_3000`)
`jurisdiction_type`	`STATE`, `STATE_OR_PROVINCE`, `COUNTRY`, or `TRADEBLOC`
`jurisdiction_name`	Human-readable name of the jurisdiction (e.g., “New York”, “United Kingdom”, “EU Union OSS”)
`exposure_type`	Type of exposure obligation: `EXPOSURE`, `EXPOSURE_ECONOMIC`, or `EXPOSURE_PHYSICAL`
`exposure_rule_id`	Identifier for the specific rule being evaluated
`subdivision`	State or province code, if applicable
`currency`	Currency of the threshold amounts
`rule`	The threshold rule being applied (see Exposure rules for field details)
`calculation`	Your current progress toward the threshold
`is_nexus_breached`	Whether you have exceeded the registration threshold
`date_of_breach`	Date when the threshold was exceeded, if breached
`recommended_registration_content_ids`	An array of V2 registration content IDs recommended for this jurisdiction (e.g., `["REG_STATE_CEN_06"]`). Use these with the V2 Registration API to create a registration.

A single jurisdiction may appear multiple times in the response if multiple exposure rules apply (e.g., separate rules for goods and services in France or Ireland).

Calculation fields

Field	Description
`included_sales`	Revenue counted toward the threshold after applying exclusions
`included_transactions`	Transaction count after exclusions
`gross_sales`	Total revenue before exclusions
`gross_transactions`	Total transaction count before exclusions
`sales_exposure_percentage`	Ratio of included sales to the sales threshold (0 to 1+)
`transactions_exposure_percentage`	Ratio of included transactions to the transactions threshold (0 to 1+)

Triggering a sync

The exposure engine runs automatically on a daily schedule and lazily on read. You can also trigger an on-demand recompute for a specific corporation via the public Sync exposure endpoint:

curl -X POST "https://transaction-tax.api.in.commenda.io/api/v1/exposure/sync?corporation_id={corporation_id}" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer <your_token>"

Every successful run emits an INDIRECT_TAX.EXPOSURE.COMPUTED webhook with the corporation’s full current set of exposed jurisdictions, so any subscribers stay in sync without polling.

Physical presence

If your business has a physical establishment (office, warehouse, or other location) in a jurisdiction, the engine evaluates resident rules for that jurisdiction. Resident rules may have different thresholds or no threshold at all — physical presence can trigger an immediate registration obligation. Register your business locations via the Locations API to ensure the engine correctly identifies which rules apply.

Get Started

Registrations

Registrations V2

Corporations

Tax Calculations

Transactions

Address Requirements

Registration Thresholds

Products

Customers

Exemption Certificates

Exemptions

Files

Credentials

Locations

Filings

Webhooks

Overview

Key concepts

Exposure rules

Multi-rule jurisdictions

Location-based scope

Exclusions

Max transaction value (IOSS)

Querying exposure data

Response structure

Response fields

Calculation fields

Triggering a sync

Physical presence

​Overview

​Key concepts

​Exposure rules

​Multi-rule jurisdictions

​Location-based scope

​Exclusions

​Max transaction value (IOSS)

​Querying exposure data

​Response structure

​Response fields

​Calculation fields

​Triggering a sync

​Physical presence

Overview

Key concepts

Exposure rules

Multi-rule jurisdictions

Location-based scope

Exclusions

Max transaction value (IOSS)

Querying exposure data

Response structure

Response fields

Calculation fields

Triggering a sync

Physical presence