Shopify selling UK to EU and Internationally is BROKEN!

miraj2020
Tourist
10 0 3

Hi everyone,

I was HORRIFIED to find out yesterday while on chat to Shopify support that the system seems to be BROKEN in how it treats international sales to Europe now.  Firstly, did you realise that your INCLUSIVE price is now inclusive of ANY EU VAT, based on the customer?  So if your customer is from Sweden, then Shopify consider your VAT inclusive price to be inclusive of that customers 25% VAT rate.  They are NOT doing the intelligent thing of dropping your price by our 20% VAT rate and then increasing it inline with Sweden's 25% VAT rate.  And the same applies to places like Germany, which is 19%.  I'm appalled by this.  I want my net price no matter where someone is located in the world.  Why on EARTH should I cover their VAT liabilities?!!

Also, I found that if I created an order to someone in the USA that person was being charged my VAT inclusive price.  What the hell?  They are not liable for UK VAT?  So why on earth should they pay the extra 20%?  I'm not a shop trying to earn a quick buck.  I want my prices to be fair.  All I want to earn is my VAT exclusive price and the shopify system should be catering for any VAT variances.

And what's more, when I created a manual order for a customer in Sweden for a product that cost MORE than the EUR 150 threshold Shopify was saying my price included 25% VAT.  What a load of tosh, and what a ballsup!  My IOSS number had been entered correctly into the site.  If someone buys something that costs more than EUR 150 then it should be charging them my VAT exclusive price, and they would then cover the VAT and customs charges when the product crossed their border.  By saying the price included VAT they are making that person liable for two sets of VAT.

I'm appalled they did not tell Shopify customers of these EXCEPTIONALLY inaccurate changes.  Check your own store if you sell internationally.  Are USA customers being charged your inclusive price??  And what about EU customers?  If you have IOSS set up, are they taking your UK inclusive price and considering it the customers inclusive price even if that customers VAT rate is different to 20%?  And if you don't have IOSS set up, are EU customers being charged your VAT inclusive price even though it should be net so that they pay VAT on import??

Please come back to me.  And Shopify, if you are reading this - what the hell??  You have now BROKEN my store for international sales.

Leanne

Replies 5 (5)

Bubblebobblw
Visitor
2 0 2

Completely the same issues here. And no response or solution.

Also no clear way to export the data we need for our IOSS return. The 'gross' and 'net' sale prices on the reports are the same??

H_L_
Visitor
1 0 0

Absolutely. This is the latest reason why our attempts to get IOSS working currently look dead in the water.


We sell foods, predominantly, which are zero rated for UK VAT. To get IOSS working working properly, it seems we would have to select 'Charge tax on this product' on every product, group all foods into a 'Collection', and put the country-specific VAT overrides onto that Collection (as most, if not all EU countries have a reduced rate of VAT on foods), including a UK override to 0%. The thing is that due to there being 0% VAT on UK food sales, our food product prices as displayed are effectively net, and are therefore not set up to accommodate typically 5- 10% VAT for EU countries.

 

The way Shopify is handling IOSS makes no sense and is utterly unhelpful.

Zohra1
Visitor
2 0 0

My store is in the UK, selling to USA customers. I'm new and haven't made any sales yet, but found this on the IOSS website:

 

You do not need to charge VAT on sales of goods in the following circumstances:

  • ...
  • Your distance sales of goods are facilitated by an electronic interface such as a marketplace or platforms. In this situation, the electronic interface is responsible for the VAT due.

Does 'electronic Interface' mean Shopify Payments?

TeemuEAS
Shopify Partner
104 1 19

Dear Miraj2020 / Leanne - and everyone who have answered her! 

 

There is finally a solution to handle both inclusive and exclusive tax your EU sales sales: https://apps.shopify.com/eas-eu-compliance

The solution is developed specifically to handle IOSS and handles all 600k EU reduced rates. 

 

Your cross-border sales to US are not liable for UK domestic VAT. 

 

There are still multiple issues to be handled, such as EU based companies not being able to use IOSS. But they, and us, are getting there. 

 

To make sure just get in touch with us at: www.easproject.com 

 

RobertFromEAS
Shopify Partner
7 0 1

If you wish to use your current delivery methods (Royal Mail, UPS, Hermes etc), having an IOSS number makes life easy. And with the IOSS number, you are always on the right side of the law.

And getting an IOSS number really isn’t difficult or expensive anymore. We do provide that service, no starting fees or monthly fees, just a minimal transaction fee 🙂

 

Check us out here 

or Download from Shopify App Store