Feature Request: Integration of Taxamo assure into the checkout for UK companies selling to EU

[amanda_drury]

I'm not sure how to put in a features request - please can someone tell me if this way doesn't work.

I have been looking into how as a small business I can improve the experience for my EU customers of purchasing from myself, post Brexit as a UK business.

Royal Mail have recommended a company called Taxamo assure which acts as a IOSS. They calculate and charge the customer VAT and pay it to the EU on our behalf without us having to fill in the VAT return. They charge £2 for each transaction. It sounds like the perfect solution but unless you are a shopify plus business one cannot get access to the Shopify checkout and do the API integration. The irony is if you are a shopify plus customer you will be big enough and it will be more cost effective to set up your own IOSS.

I have spoken to support about this who have suggested that I put in a feature request. So here it is. If more people can also express an interest in this feature it may have more chance of being implemented and go somewhere to ease the Brexit headache of doing business with the EU.

[MichaelC-C]

And woocommerce are integrating Taxamo



https://woocommerce.com/products/taxamo/#

[Reina2]

Hi Shay, 

Thank you for getting back to us. 

This forum seems to be mostly for Shopify sellers in the UK, so we are looking for a solution for IOSS ( not OSS!) . 

We are requesting an integration between Shopify ( check out ) and Taxamo. 

If you sign up to their website, they actually have a API form which you can , assumably, integrate into any backend of websites. 

I am sure it may be quite easy for Shopify developers to look at their requirements and create something that could integrate taxamo’s api to add the 

(1) calculation for each EU countries taxes , then add this at check out, so that the EU customers can purchase the goods and pay Tax at the same time. Taxamo will then process the money collected and forward/ process to the designated EU country’s tax payable. And Taxamo should be giving us some kind of IOSS number, which we UK seller can put on at shipment with Royal Mail ( I think most sellers here are using UK Royal Mail) . 

Then through Taxamo , we are covered with IOSS . 

Please see below the link to Taxamo. I think you will have to speak to the developers there and see what Shopify needs to do. 

 https://www.taxamo.com/taxamo-assure-rmg/features

Please see the Uk Royal Mail telling us the option of using Taxamo. 

https://www.royalmail.com/import-one-stop-shop-ioss

Please , we need a smooth integration of Taxamo into Shopify for IOSS( mostly for assisting UK seller be able to keep selling in EU countries) . 

*** Otherwise, you will loose all sales to the EU countries , and EU Shopify seller would have to find a better e-commerce platform that can help us sell to EU. 

I think it is beneficial and necessary for Shopify to find a integration with Taxamo ASAP. Otherwise you will loose Uk Shopify sellers for sure. 

Shopify staff, 

Please reply. 

Thank you.

[Julia_Gibbs]

Thank you for this request, I have a small business selling UK to EU and a workaround to integrate Taxamo or a Shopify version is 100% necessary IMO if we are to continue selling to Europe. Like others I was surprised nothing has been set up so far, and time is running out for small businesses! Please Shopify, look at a workaround ASAP!

[MichaelC-C]

Yes the Shopify Support staff seem to think its just a question of
calculating import VAT. They are completely underestimating the size of the
problem. It's a question of seamlessly integrating into our secure Shopify
checkouts a method to calculate import VAT for the shipping destination
country send that money to a secure third party (who is registered under the
EU IOSS scheme) who will then send the import VAT to the EU destination
country's Sales Tax authority, include in our Shopify sales reports the fact
that the sales tax part of the sales revenue we collected has automatically
been sent to third party countries.

[CustomizedChopp]

Can I also add our voice to the call for an urgent integration of Taxamo into the Shopify checkout.

[MichaelC-C]

Yes checkout the Taxamo integration page

https://www.taxamo.com/taxamo-assure-rmg/integration

Only Magento is integrating it - no mention of Shopify.

[JackBlack]

Shopify are lagging far behind other platforms on this. Either they implement Taxamo or they handle the IOSS themselves like eBay are doing.

Shopify you're built on small businesses, we need help with this!

[TanyaB]

Adding my voice as well. This is a major issue for small shops selling to the EU. Please support us with a Shopify-led service, or with a Taxamo integration.

[Rachel80]

I would almost certainly use the taxamo service if it was integrated with shopify

[HavreDeLuxe]

Thank you for this request. Also here to echo the urgency of this and share the frustrations of so many other small businesses who feel totally unsupported. 

Our web developer has taken a look at Taxamo and has confirmed if Shopify  allowed us access to the checkout the API integration would be straightforward!

Have just contacted Deloitte and asked for further clarification, has anyone else explored this route? 
Will post any potential updates. 

Shopify are set to announce new features on the 29th but no clarification as to what this includes, could this be the news we all need?

[LauraECY]

It appears that more companies are appearing online seeming to offer the intermediary service that is required for small businesses to apply for IOSS. My understanding is that if we have an IOSS number Shopify is set up to calculate the VAT at checkout. 

Most are prohibitively expensive but I did find one yesterday called CrossborderIT. They seem to be offering €19.99/month subscription and €1 per transaction. PLEASE NOTE - I have not been able to find any information about customer experience etc and am definitely not vouching for them just letting you know there are services out there at more affordable prices which don't require integration with Shopify.

[Curb_Wear]

Thanks for this!

I have contacted crossborderit and asked them if their solution will work with non-Shopify Plus stores.

I wonder if Shopify has its own IOSS plans? 

[BecNolan]

I just got off the phone with crossborderit and it sounds like a good option:

19.99€ per month + 1€ per order, they handle registration and tax reports. At the moment, the one drawback is that you need to send daily reports to them on your EU sales (if you had any that day). So basically right now they are not integrated with shopify nor do they need to be, however, they do have a Shopify app in BETA which they said will be ready in a few months, which will streamline everything and remove the need for manual daily reporting. For those of us who don't sell a huge amount to the EU this sounds like a great option - I'm going to give it a go. And Shopify as someone else mentioned, it's not only the UK being affected by this - it's anyone outside of the EU. 

[Savvy_Paul]

Shopify - small sellers CANNOT DO WITHOUT this sort of feature.

Either you provide it, or we go elsewhere.

I've been with Shopify for 11 years.

[Curb_Wear]

Same I will also give Cross Border a go. I imagine more of these companies will pop up and probably Shopify will have it's own in-house solution, but for now this ticks the box for me. 

Here is their reply:

"

1. My company is VAT registered but is not a Limited Company / EIN. Can I still register? Yes you absolutely can the EIN is just the US tax number.
2. My website uses Shopify where the checkout coding cannot be altered. Can I still use CBIT IOSS? Yes you can! You will ship with any carrier using your IOSS number.

At close of business, you will upload all shipments into the CBIT systems or integrate our Shopify app or API to streamline this process.

Billing will be pulled directly from your onboarded PayPal account as soon as we know what you send  and what you must pay.

CBIT will reconcile the shipments with the tax authorities and you shipment gets problem free entry into the EU.

"

[MichaelC-C]

Even those inside the EU have to comply with Import Vat, eg selling from
Sweden to France (same problem) and some I spoke to, don't know they have
to do it or how. I bet some of them use Shopify too and will be thinking of
going elsewhere soon!!

[SMU]

Someone earlier in the thread mentioned Crossborderit.

I have asked them for a demo and they sent me some info.

I have asked more questions as I am unsure if this is an integration or if you simply input their IOSS number so it displays on the CN22. If this is the case then do we know that the correct VAT amount for each EU country will be properly rather than us having to do this manually?

Fee is 19 per month and £1 per item posted. Not as cheap as Taxamo but if Crossborderit provide their IOSS, collect and file the VAT for you without the need for an expensive intermediary then this may be the only solution. However, again, I am perplexed that as a merchant using such a huge e-commerce platform, I am having to scour the web myself for some assistance on how to get this started rather than there be an affordable seamless solution from shopify itself.

Do we yet know if the correct VAT charges will be applied to each EU country automatically by Shopify?

[SMU]

Some answers to my questions to Crossborderit

We are UK merchants selling on Shopify.

We sell to the EU, but they all have different VAT charges. Is there anything you have integrated with Shopify for this purpose? -Shopify has a calculator that can be used, or you can simply get a spreadsheet and calculate from there.

Is that charge £1 or 1 Euro per item posted to the EU. We charge one EURO per IOSS shipment we also provide DDP solutions for above 150€ but for the sake of this just 1€ per shipment into the EU we don’t have anything to do with your other shipments.

Do we have to provide monthly reports based on EU sales? The 19.99€ a month is for access to our system which will have all reporting. This fee also is for your compliance filing with the tax authorities.

Do we get to use your IOSS number? You will get a VAT number of your own that is files under ours and an intermediary.

Do you act as intermediary and file and pay the VAT owed This is what we do. We do all payments and compliance in real time.

How long does it take for it all to be set up and where on my shopify admin would I need to make changes?

Just some questions initially

You started the process of registering for an IOSS number with Crossborderit.com/IOSS

Please let me know if there are any questions, I can answer to help you finalize.

Step 1: Register for IOSS on our site, you will receive this number within 3 to f5 days. You will also receive a letter from the Swedish tax authority where you are registered.

Step 2: You will receive an onboarding from  PayPal for payment we charge 1€ per shipment and 19.99€ Euro per month for access to our platform.

Step 3: You will receive instructions for uploading  shipments into our system or integrating an API within our system.

We will manage the rest from compliance to reporting.

[Christian48]

It's good that companies are coming forward to help with IOSS, but unless Shopify implements a feature that allows for VAT to be charged to customers on orders under €150, I don't see how we can sell to the EU. Am I missing something?

[SMU]

I think there will be an automatic VAT update on our stores, although I am not too sure about this.

We need to ensure that we have selected 'collect VAT' in our admin settings however, this does not apply to countries like the US....as UK merchants do not charge VAT on items sold to the US so I am hoping that shopify update will differentiate between the countries we need to collect the VAT from as it is not applicable to all our customers. We could do with shopify clarifying this or providing us with an option to de select VAT for the countries where it is not required. If anyone else knows how to do this please share with us.

[Christian48]

Currently I have all EU countries tax rates set to zero. If I change that to their respective tax rates, surely tax will then be applied to all orders regardless of value.

[SMU]

Yes it think so. I think shopify are doing an update on July 1st regarding the VAT. I am hoping this update will automatically set the correct VAT rates for each EU country a UK merchant sells to otherwise we will have to put it all in manually for 27 countries...

[Christian48]

I'd be happy to do set the rates individually if Shopify introduces the tax feature. All EU countries have their own shipping profile anyway on my store as the shipping rates for carriers (other than Royal Mail) vary so much from country to country.

[Savvy_Paul]

Under Tax Settings click on Set Up for the European Union zone.

There's an option on the next page to input your IOSS number.

The difficulty is that everything beyond that will have to be done manually unless there is an integrated solution that draws the information directly from Shopify.

You may get by doing it manually for a few weeks, but it will soon become a significant burden, and a potential for costly mistakes.

Given Shopify's track record of extracting extra cash for apps, at every possible opportunity, it does seem surprising that this has not yet been done for IOSS registration / reporting.

[Christian48]

For some reason I don't have the option in Tax Settings to set up taxes for the EU. All tax settings on my store are created from the shipping profiles. I'll talk to support to find out why.

[Savvy_Paul]

[Christian48]

Yup, definitely missing from my store. Support were as useful as a chocolate tea pot!

I'm guessing it's because each EU country has it's own shipping profile on my store. Looks like I'll have to delete all the profiles and create a European Union one and try and balance out the carrier rates for shipping via courier.

[JackBlack]

Could Shopify answer this thread and add some clarification? It feels like they're not taking this seriously. If they can't make it easy for me to sell to the EU from the UK I will start thinking about changing platforms.

[Shay · Accepted solution]

Hi @Christian48 

I understand that you don't have Registration Based Taxes setup on your store at this time. If you are selling to the UK/EU this will be an important step for you to complete. Depending on your tax setup you had on your store when we rolled this feature out, you may not have been automatically opted in for it. If that is the case you will want to contact our live support and let them know that you need to enable "Registration Based Taxes" on your store. From there, they can reach out to the appropriate support teams internally to get that feature enabled (Feel free to share this forum post for context). You can also see more information on this here: Manage Your UK Taxes. 

To contact our live support please follow this link: Shopify Help Center - Contact Support, sign into your store account, search for your issue and use the contact support button at the bottom of the search results to see all our live support options. 

As @Savvy_Paul shared in their screenshots, registration based taxes allows you to provide your tax registration ID for the appropriate countries/states/provinces you sell to and uses our automated tax system to check the appropriate tax and apply it at the checkout. After July 1st, this will be updated to include your OSS/IOSS registration information to capture taxes on orders that meet the specific threshold requirements put in place by Brexit. 

In regards to the integration of an external services to work as your intermediary for businesses using the IOSS model, I want to reiterate that your feedback here is being shared with the appropriate teams.

I know that while IOSS registration is not mandatory, the simplification of the checkout experience it provides is definitely the ideal option for businesses with a lot of sales to the UK/EU. At this time, because IOSS is not a legal requirement Shopify does not provide a built in integration for an IOSS intermediary. 

Based on the information that has been shared in this thread, Taxamo does offer an integration solution but that is restricted to our PLUS store plans as it requires access to the checkout API. If there are other options available for this integration, the ability to offer it is entirely in Taxamo's, or any external providers, hands to create. They have full access to our API documentation and can develop and list their app in our app store. If they require any support from our developers, that is something handled by a team outside of my own and I am not able to provide additional insight into that process on the back end. Shopify does not control the integration of third party apps and services and if you would like to have features provided by a third party company (Like Taxamo), you will need to contact them directly to ask them to create a suitable app integration. 

I am going to mark this response as the "Solution" to make it easier for other merchants to see the information shared here. Please feel free to continue sharing your feedback and I will answer any questions I am able to. 

Thank you!

-Shay

[SMU]

This isn't really a solution. As everyone who has contributed to this thread still has no way to sell their products to EU customers without said EU customers paying VAT and additional charges upon arrival in their country.

Whilst the IOSS is not a legal requirement, everyone who has contributed to this thread so far wants and needs a seamless payment experience for their customers at point of sale.

It appears only those who pay higher Shopify platform fees have been fortunate enough to take advantage of the Taxamo integration with shopify. Did it not occur to developers at the time of this integration that those who do not have a Shopify Plus platform will need exactly the same service if selling to the EU? 

So whilst I appreciate you have addressed some issues, this changes nothing for me or anyone else in this thread.

[Savvy_Paul]

It could be worse...but it could be a lot better.

Shopify is facilitating automatic calculation of VAT by individual EU destination, at checkout. That's a definite plus.

However, filing daily manual reports to an intermediary is not going to be a lot of fun.

If that continues, then I would expect clients to be demanding to look at other platforms.

[Christian48]

Hi @Shay,

At the time I didn't enable registration base taxes on my store because I am not registered in an EU country to collect VAT. The feature was completely redundant to my store. All I needed to do to be compliant on 1st January was to zero rate VAT to all EU customers. And now that I need to collect VAT for IOSS, I can't because there is no solution. Your solution is only for large stores that are using OSS and can afford to pay for an EU intermediary for IOSS, but for the rest of us it isn't.

[JackBlack]

So for a seamless integration of a DDP checkout we need to pay 2k USD a month? Yikes.

Kind of weird how a Shopify staff can mark their own post as a solution when the users clearly need something better.

I really urge the Shopify team to come up with something better, your competition has better offerings and my small business is heavily reliant on EU sales. As per this thread and others I know I am not alone.

[SMU]

@Shay As you can see, this isn't actually solved and this will continue until we all find a solution to the issue which is affordable to smaller UK merchants. Thank you for clarifying other points but as aforementioned, nothing has been 'solved' for anyone who has contributed to this thread thus far in relation to IOSS. 

If any other UK merchants find an alternative solution to this please post here. 

[jessica0318]

This is really great for us!