VAT registration pending, can we still open the store?

[robertsiipola]

Hi,

I'm building a Shopify store for a client. The client is a new business which has submitted the necessary paperwork with the local (Finnish) tax authority to register a VAT number. The process is currently congested and the tax authorities are promising that they should be able to process my clients application properly in two to three weeks. However, the authorities have also promised that when registered the VAT number will be active retroactively from May 2021 onwards.

My client was looking forward to opening the store within a week or so (8th July 2021), during a local housing fair. My question then, is this: Can we go live with the online store without having registered tax number from the local authorities, knowing that with a very high likelihood that we'll get on in a few weeks and that it will be retroactively valid from May 2020 onwards? Will Shopify process payments without a valid VAT number?

Thanks,

-Robert

[Don · Accepted solution]

Hi there @robertsiipola!

Don here from Shopify.

Thanks for outlining your concerns for us here in the Community.

Generally speaking, when it comes to questions regarding tax liabilities we would always have to direct you to consult a qualified expert in your jurisdiction for any such queries.

In this case, it may depend on which payment gateway or gateways you are using to process payments, and what their respective policies are in this regard.

Have you determined which of the payment gateways available for use in Finland you want to use for this business and if so, have you been in touch with them about how they would handle payment processing in this instance?

They would be the ones responsible for providing support for their service and would be the best place to ask about their requirements in terms of VAT or other taxes.

Let me know if you have any other questions about using Shopify that we can help out with at any point!

Regards,

Don

[robertsiipola]

Excellent point. We have chosen a payment processor (Paytrail), but have not been in contact with them yet. I'll do that next. Thank you for pointing this out.

-Robert

[Don]

Hi again @robertsiipola!

Don from Shopify once again.

Thanks for confirming that for me here and sorry that we can't provide more info ourselves here.

The general tax query rationale is part of the reason, but as this is a third-party gateway we definitely can't provide you with confirmation of how this would work.

You should otherwise be able to use Shopify otherwise without issue, pending the information you get from your payment gateway.

It might be worth bearing in mind that you can have a PayPal option present in addition to a credit card gateway, should you need an alternate solution or just wish to provide more ways for your customers to pay.

Would you have worked on this store as a developmental store you are going to hand off to the client or have you just been working on a regular store directly with them?

I'm not sure how useful this may be to you as a partner, but I like to share our store launch checklist blog with stores about to launch as it's a great resource for new merchants (again, this may be less useful to you depending on your level of experience with launching stores) to make sure every box is ticked for the big day.

Let us know here whenever we can be of use to you and best of luck with the launch!

Regards,

Don

[robertsiipola]

We managed to got this sorted out with the payment processor, apparently they're fine with justing having the business ID in the beginning.

The store has been a development store and I'm about to transfer ownership for them in the coming days. I'd love to check out the store launch checklist. I think it'd be helpful for my client as well.

-Robert