Start with explicit amounts
In the fictional Harborline quotation, the lines are USD 300.00 for seals, USD 130.00 for bearings, USD 44.00 for gasket sets and USD 96.00 for sleeves. Their subtotal is USD 570.00. The quotation explicitly states USD 45.60 tax and USD 15.00 delivery. Its known total is USD 630.60.
Those are invented teaching prices, not market quotations. The tax is a supplied amount, not a rate recommended for any jurisdiction. QuoteLens does not determine which tax is due or whether it is recoverable.
Keep unavailable costs visible
The fictional Pelagic quotation has an item subtotal of USD 651.00 and a stated delivery charge of USD 95.00. Its tax amount is blank, and its terms exclude import duties and local taxes. The known total is therefore USD 746.00, incomplete. Adding zero for tax would conceal a question that still needs an answer.
A supplier can explicitly quote zero for a charge. Preserve that as zero, but still read the associated delivery and exclusion terms. In the Tideforge example, the delivery field is zero and the terms say ex works. That recorded zero does not establish that getting the goods to the buyer’s destination is free.
Count quotation-level costs once
Some CSV exports repeat tax and delivery amounts on every item row. In QuoteLens, those fields describe the whole quotation. Identical repeated amounts count once; conflicting amounts cause an import error requiring review. If a source instead contains line-level taxes or freight, it must be reviewed and represented correctly rather than treated as this format automatically.
Discounts, freight allocation and landed-cost modelling are not implemented in the current tool. Do not bury an unsupported adjustment inside a unit price without preserving what changed and why.
Make the rounding basis visible
QuoteLens uses decimal arithmetic and rounds extended USD line totals to two decimal places using half-up rounding. For illustration, 3 × USD 0.335 gives USD 1.005 before rounding and USD 1.01 after rounding. A supplier may use a different documented invoicing basis. Investigate a discrepancy rather than editing the source to force agreement.
Preserve the offered precision and reconcile the report with the supplier’s total. An arithmetic difference is a clarification question, not evidence by itself that a supplier is incorrect.
Name the figure honestly
Use “known quoted total” when costs or scope are unresolved. List the outstanding amounts and exclusions adjacent to the number. A complete cost view also depends on the required scope, destination and accepted commercial terms; a filled-in tax cell alone does not make different offers comparable.
If you need a purchase-ready delivered-cost calculation or tax treatment, obtain the missing supplier information and review it with the appropriate qualified adviser. The current report supports that conversation; it does not supply missing commercial facts.