Can I set up different shipping tax rates on products in the Netherlands?

Can I set up different shipping tax rates on products in the Netherlands?

adventurebook
Tourist
12 0 2

I need to set up a second tax rate for shipping (I'm based in The Netherlands). I sell products that are taxed differently (21% and 9%) and when a customer buys a product, the shipping tax rate should follow the product they purchased. So if they bought a product with 21% tax, the tax rate on shipping should be 21%. If they bought a product that has 9% tax on it, the tax on the shipping should be 9%. I do not seem to be able to do this within Shopify.

Can it be done? Or with a Shopify Plugin? 

 

Thank you!

Replies 35 (35)

Victor
Shopify Staff
2611 236 552

Hi @adventurebook,

This should be achievable via the use of tax overrides, which allows you to set different tax rates for different products and for a specific region. You can go ahead and filter your products in two collections; one for the products that are due a 9% tax rate to be applied, and another for the products that carry a 21% rate of tax. These collections can then be used in tax overrides to apply the different rate of taxes for the product.

You'll then want to enable the "Charge tax on shipping rates" option in Settings > Taxes, without adding any shipping overrides:

29-12-53576-89158

If you have this option enabled and no shipping overrides are present for the Netherlands, Dutch customers should then have the appropriate rate of shipping tax added to their orders (e.g. 9% shipping tax for products with a 9% product override, and 21% shipping tax for 21% products). For split orders, the tax rate that makes up the majority of the order is used.

I hope this explains things but please let me know if you have further questions.

Victor | Social Care @ Shopify 
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adventurebook
Tourist
12 0 2

Hi Victor!

Thank you for your reply! 

As of right now, my settings are as you recommended, but the tax rate on shipping isn't following the tax rate on the product, as you can see in the first screenshot of an order. The product has 21% tax on it, but it charged 9% tax on the shipping. Have I missed something? 

 

Schermafbeelding 2021-07-30 om 10.31.39.png

Schermafbeelding 2021-07-30 om 10.30.57.png

Victor
Shopify Staff
2611 236 552

Hi @adventurebook,

Right, thank you. I appreciate you sharing those screenshots. Can you confirm to me what "Btw" refers to here? Is this the name of a product or shipping rate? I just want to be 100% sure on what I am looking at here.

Kind regards,

Victor | Shopify Social Care

Victor | Social Care @ Shopify 
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adventurebook
Tourist
12 0 2

Btw is the Dutch word for tax. 🙂 

Thank you Victor.

Victor
Shopify Staff
2611 236 552

Hi @adventurebook,

Okay, thank you. I tried to replicate this on my test store and received the same outcome as you—a shipping tax rate of 21% was applied at checkout when I had a product with a 9% tax rate in my cart.

I reached out to our taxes team on this and asked what might be happening here, and if there was a way to set two different shipping tax overrides for a single country. They notified me that Shopify's automated tax system is setup for numerous countries, and the way the taxes are applied depends on the registration settings for our tax system. This means that when you enter in your VAT number in your tax settings, Shopify's automated tax system will use this information to charge taxes for the country in question.

We can take a closer look at this, but we first wanted to learn more about where you have seen that the taxes on shipping needs to be the same as the taxes applied to the product. Do you have any documentation you can provide that specifies that this is a necessity for Dutch merchants?

Kind regards,

Victor | Shopify Social Care

Victor | Social Care @ Shopify 
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adventurebook
Tourist
12 0 2

Hi Victor, 

Thank you for looking into it further. I have asked my accountant to provide documentation that states this rule for Dutch merchants. I will get back to you as soon as I receive it. 

Do I understand correctly that as of right now this isn't a feature in the Shopify system? And Shopify will implement it if you learn this is a necessity for Dutch merchants? 

 

adventurebook
Tourist
12 0 2

Hi Victor,

You can find the information on the official website of the Dutch Tax Authorities (in Dutch they are called De Belastingdienst). Unfortunately, it is only available in Dutch (the bit we need is titled: Voorbeeld: Bezorgkosten), but I've translated the excerpt for you below. 

https://www.belastingdienst.nl/wps/wcm/connect/bldcontentnl/belastingdienst/zakelijk/btw/btw_bereken...

 

"Example: delivery costs

Do you sell goods and also take care of delivery to the customer? In that case, the same rate applies for the delivery costs as for the goods. Do different rates apply to the goods? Then you calculate the delivery costs in proportion to the compensation for the goods."

Voorbeeld: bezorgkosten

Verkoopt u goederen en zorgt u ook voor bezorging bij de klant? Dan geldt voor de bezorgkosten hetzelfde tarief als voor de goederen. Gelden voor de goederen verschillende tarieven? Dan berekent u de bezorgkosten naar verhouding van de vergoedingen van de goederen.

 

Very much looking forward to the next steps. Thanks!

AdnanEr
Visitor
2 0 1

We have the similar situation in Sweden and I am working on a store that needs exactly this.

Here is the information from the Swedish tax authorities (in Swedish though): https://www.skatteverket.se/omoss/varverksamhet/rapporterremissvarochskrivelser/skrivelser/arkiv/ar/...

If there is a mix of items with different tax rates, then the tax rates (VAT) for the shipping should be split up accordingly. 

In my case, we have 12% and 25% VAT on items in the store.

adventurebook
Tourist
12 0 2

Hi AdnanEr, 

Do I understand correctly that you are building this feature for a Shopify store? 

If so, I would love your help on this. 

AdnanEr
Visitor
2 0 1

Hi @adventurebook 

I have the same problem as you, but I am not building any feature. Just wanted to know more and inform that you are not the only one who needs this kind of feature. 

Victor
Shopify Staff
2611 236 552

Hi @adventurebook,

Thank you for sharing this with me here. I have taken this to our taxes team and shared the link you provided so that could take a look into this. They have informed me that at this moment in time, our tax system cannot be updated in the way that you are looking for it be changed, but that I should submit a report to them so a record of this request is noted. This may be something we'll be able to change in future but at this time it does not seem this is possible with our automated tax system.

Victor | Social Care @ Shopify 
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adventurebook
Tourist
12 0 2

Hi Victor, 

That is unfortunate. From another poster on this thread, I see that Sweden has similar rules on shipping tax as The Netherlands, so this is a feature that many European merchants would need in their store. I will continue to look for a solution, hopefully, someone will be able to make this customization in my store. Because of course, paying 21% tax instead of 9% on shipping is quite a chunk out of our projected margins and is a bummer to put it mildly.  

Would there be a way for us to batch correct the shipping tax calculated on specific orders? So that we might correct the shipping tax after the order is placed? 

 

Thank you

Victor
Shopify Staff
2611 236 552

Hi @adventurebook,

I can appreciate your frustration with this, for sure. When I spoke to our taxes team and submitted your feedback it looked like other EU merchants had reached out about this, so the issue has been documented and hopefully it's something that'll be looked at in future.

In terms of what you can do now, you'll have the option to refund customers part of their order if they have overpaid—this can't be done on a bulk level, but you'll be able to reimburse the customer for each order where this is the case.

Victor | Social Care @ Shopify 
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Fuad29
Visitor
1 0 0

Hi @Victor 

I have the same problem, as I'm also located in the Netherlands.

Can you please advise how will we get to know then needed changes are applied to Shopify system and approximately how long will it take?

Thank you.

Victor
Shopify Staff
2611 236 552

Hi @Fuad29,

I am not able to confirm that this change will be made, or when it may be implemented. I have submitted feedback to our development team and I know our team that works on Shopify's tax system regularly checks it to make sure it's up-to-date and working for our merchants in various countries. If this is an error then hopefully it will be amended in due course but I cannot confirm when that will be.

Victor | Social Care @ Shopify 
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Fallen
Tourist
4 0 0

Hi @Victor,

I wonder where you are with this development. It is still very much needed and I can't see that a solution is put in place yet. Or is there?

Regards

Magnus

Victor
Shopify Staff
2611 236 552

Hi @Fallen,

 

My understanding is that this feature request is currently being considered by our taxes team, but there is no news currently on when this change will be made. If I hear that this change has been made, or that there is a date where we plan to make this change, I will seek to update you and others waiting on this change in this thread.

Victor | Social Care @ Shopify 
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Aleksandra88
Visitor
1 0 0

Same issue here,  it's been over a year since the start of this discussion. Any update? Are there any third party apps that can do the trick?

tcoolen
Tourist
5 0 0

@Victor  @adventurebook @chrisima @YesWegan @Aleksandra88 @Alex_Apriwell 

Do you perhaps already have a solution for this? As @Alex_Apriwell mentioned, it also costs us money every day.

aristarch
Shopify Partner
1 0 0

Hello @Viktor & @Shopify ,
Have you already found a solution for this issue?
Thanks in advance

 

WOLFBKS
Tourist
13 0 0

@Victor

Can you give us an update on this? We're, like many other merchants, in need of this quite simple update to be able to abide by local regulations from the tax authorities.

 

I can understand that some functions take long to implement, but I cannot understand why something this simple that loses merchants money and makes it impossible for them to abide by the legal regulations is taking years.

 

I know Shopify has a position of power, migrating to another service is a huge undertaking, but please listen to your customers. We're not asking for much here.

BlueTyga
Shopify Partner
3 0 0

We are an online e-commerce platform based out of India. We urgently need this feature implemented as soon as possible, as in India, GST (tax) on shipping is charged at different rates.

JAO1
Tourist
7 0 2

This is still a problem. When can we expect a solution? I think three years should be plenty to update the system

tcoolen
Tourist
5 0 0

Any news? Need this too for my EU shops

Alex_Apriwell
Visitor
1 0 1

Hey @Victor , is there any update on this? Merchants across the EU are literally losing money because of this. 

YesWegan
Visitor
1 0 0

I also NEED this (VAT calculated on the shipping price depending on the product-tax-bracked] in price-ratio) and personally im baffled that this "tax/vat"-logic is still not implented in fully extend after a full year and a bit while the logic in shopify is visible there. 

 

Connect the collection tax rate with the shipping tax rate and you are there.. no?

 

Sorry for the strong words, but seeing the progress in more then 1 year on a such a vital thing in our specific taxing needs.

chrisima
Visitor
2 0 2

Two years further now, and this problem is still not solved. Selling shops is what you do, but you are unable to get us a feature that allows us to follow OBLIGED by GOVERNMENT TAX REGULATIONS.... Shame on Shopify!

chrisima
Visitor
2 0 2

By the way, this is a rule in Belgium also, probably the entire EU..

JonBit
Shopify Partner
2 0 1

@Victor @Shopify  any news on this topic? Seems like the whole EU shipping tax calculation is incorrect if product tax overrides are applied. That could be a major downgrade to Shopify if this makes waves...

These kind of basics should not be solved through an app. I don't think EU merchants are willing to pay an app just to get their shipping tax calculated the right way.

IvakinEugene
Shopify Partner
2 0 0

hi @adventurebook 

maybe some app can solve this problem. Did you find it?

adventurebook
Tourist
12 0 2

No unfortunately not. Shopify still hasn't solved this problem either it seems. 

MBerger
Visitor
2 0 1

4 years later and still no update on this topic @Victor?
Wrote several times with the shopify plus support on this topic and they also seem pretty helpless about it. 
Kinda frustating to have such an essential feature take that long or is forgotten about.

ale87
Visitor
1 0 0

I have the same issue, I sell different products with different VAT rates in one market and the shipping vat rate should be the same of the order instead I can only pick one vat for all my products/order. This is bad, but most importantly is wrong from an accounting point of view. Please fix this.

powerlift
Visitor
2 0 1

hello here, in Italy we have the same issue on foods products as the tax to add is  10% and 5% instead of the normal 22%. It's a shame that a simple thing that any ecommerce software such as Magento or Opencart may manage this through a couple of settings.

When will this be implemented?