EU business tax exemption base on VAT validation (VIES)

[forhaus]

Hi there,

Anyone can tell me how can I run a store in EU with shopify if they don't provide a tool at checkout to verify VAT id of a EU business and automatically apply tax exemption for that customer after VAT is validated?

I try to use an app "exemptify" but is buggy, don't look nice, only shows on cart page and don't store VAT ID in customer profile.

Thanks

[jesick]

We have the same question. Sufio seems to have a solution for this but we haven't tried it yet. It's also quite expensive and we don't need an invoice generator app. 

Any tips are welcome! 

[Anonymousko]

It seems that they Shopify does not support a decent VAT validation for B2B in EU...

That's a shame for Shopify as long as competitors are offering this (Prestashop, Bigcommerce, Woocommerce, etc...)

I was ready to opening my E-Commerce shop first time with SHOPIFY when I realized my B2B customers cannot enter their VAT number for tax exempt, WTF...

Again, if Shopify can release this feature that is essential !

[forhaus]

I just realize this too late...I trusted that if they operate in EU that they would comply with EU tax regulations. 

Don't seem to me that they will ever make this available since their answer to my request is always that they comply with EU regulations what is true if you sell just for private consumers but this is not even something that you can control since anyone can buy and provide a VAT id and in that case merchants are obliged to exempt business VAT from taxes and then what?? Shopify doesn't stop to impress me for the worse reasons most of them the biggest nonsenses ever!

I'm considering to report this to EU tax regulators to see what they will do...

[Jeroen07]

Big + 1 here. If Shopify wants to take the EU market they need to find a solution so you can:

• Add a VAT number in the CHECKOUT (and not with shady 3th party plugins in the cart)
• Offer native VIES validation in that checkout
• Offer configuration possibilities depending on the country of the client

Even if you're mainly a B2C shop, there are alway people ordering your stuff with their company (and inserting a VAT number is essential).

Let's hop they take this seriously starting in 2023 ... 

[jesick]

Totally agree, 

we ave to tell customers which want to order with the Tax excempt to send us a screenshot of their basket so we create the order manually. Super unproductive and complicated. 

@Shopify  please.

[Pikok85]

Big +1

I am migrating to woocommerce because of this.

Paying $50 bucks for Sufio for this functionality is a scam really.

It's a basic thing and should not be paywalled like this.

+VIES validation + automatic VAT exemption on checkout.
It's extremely frustrating. How hard can this be to implement?

[jesick]

@Shopify is there any comment on this? That is super frustrating. We are currently operating 2 Stores and will be gone if this won't become an function within the next months. 

[Thomas-OwnWeb]

I have exactly the same problem. It's sad.

[Pikok85]

This is getting ridiculous. If shopify doesn't provide a solution fast I'm leaving the platform once and for all. Relying on buggy apps that look terrible and provide even worse user experience  means loosing lots of clients.

[ptaaq]

Yeah, for us this problem is also very problematic and makes us loose tons of small B2B clients. VAT-UE upgrade is a must-have for Shopify if you are operating in Europe.

We are starting to regret a decision to place our shop on Shopify. 

[jesick]

Maybe we should just post here every day until Shopify is gettin aware of this finally. 

[Anonymousko]

Do agree with you guys, I almost give up shopify when I discovered this missing feature that goes against the EU regulations laws…

I've worked out that the validation of the VAT number is done on the basket page.

Not optimal for the customer, too bad...

[ptaaq]

We are new to Shopify, so I have no idea if problems reported on the community forum are being followed by Shopify development team. Is it? 

Like this is a huge gap and Shopify is clearly reaching for EU e-commerce resellers so I just can't imagine that they wouldn't solve that problem in nearest future. 

Did anyone try to actually reach them with this issue and got any confirmed statement from developers regarding EU VAT upgrade? 

[jesick]

We tried reaching them. The first level support does not really understand the issue. Shopify tells merchants to basically open a second shop for B2B businesses. Very frustrating. 

[jesick]

We contacted the Shopify Support again today and got this reply. 
Everyone else here. Maybe it helps if you also open a request for this issue. 

Hello Julian, this is Jenny. 
I understand that you're concerned about not having a feature for your EU based businesses to enter their VAT number for VAT exemption directly within the Shopify platform. I recognize that this is an important feature for your business, and I'd like to offer some alternative solutions that may help address this issue.

1. Manual Tax Exemption: You can consider turning on/off tax exemption in your customer profiles as detailed in our help documentation on Edit customer profiles. 
   • I have a video recording of my test store on how this can be done.
2. Cart Notes: You can ask your customers to include their VAT number in the cart notes section before checking out. This way, you can manually adjust the tax exemption for each order/customers accordingly.
3. Third-Party App: To automate the VAT exemption process, you may want to consider using the DIY Tax Exempt Checkout app available in the Shopify App Store. This app allows your customers to update their tax exemption status. You can reach out to the app developer via email: info@daxanema.com for better understanding if this app will help your store to achieve this. 

Additionally, I have submitted your feedback regarding the VAT exemption feature to our Platform Development Team. While there is no specific timeline or guarantee that this will be implemented, your input is valuable to us, and we hope to see improvements in this area in the future. You can also stay updated on any platform changes through the Shopify Changelog. 
 
Thank you!