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.

[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!

[Seanlbow]

Eurora is ?

[Dbaca]

Crossborderit will work for you. You can get a hold of me directly if you have questions.

[Triveda]

This is useful info although dated now as we are just looking into this for our store. We hear CrossBorder has still got a lot of teething issues? Has anyone tried Ship24? 

Or any easy to integrate app for a small business?

[Boo14]

We find CBIT app really easy and efficient.

[Triveda]

That's good to hear Boo14. How long have you been using it? How many orders do you ship to the EU per month? Any issues so far with payments and charges? Just calculating fixed monthly costs for the App to justify integrating it. But I guess it gradually will balance off as EU sales grow.

[Dbaca]

I think the biggest thing folks complain about with Crossborderit is billing because there the customer receives a statement for duties and taxes and an invoice for services weekly. If you look at the reviews this what the two complaints are about. We have 500 customers and we have many folks that are perfectly happy with our service. We are changing our billing process to better address that issue. The platform works very well and I believe is the most compliant compared with our compeditors.

[anatomie]

When you calculate the tax and duties at the checkout @Dbaca you must require the HS codes for our products. Where does your app get this from?

[Dbaca]

You only require the HS codes for shipments above €150.. The Shopify app will calculate otherwise. For the above €150 we have a classification support system that will support calculation of duties and taxes. It is always good to have a harmonized code. I you would like to start classifying your goods I can get you into our beta group for the classification platform. You do not need it for IOSS.

[anatomie]

Hmm, @Dbaca I don't think that's true - we need the HS codes on all our shipments in order to calculate the duties. 

[Dbaca]

You should always Use and H.S. code but duties into Europe are only levied for shipments above €150. Below that threshold only taxes are levied. You do not need an H.S. code to determine taxes unless you are shipping something like printed material that has a lower VAT rate.

[colin14]

Please can someone advise we are set up on shopify with cross border and all automated.

However if a business customer purchases for item under €150 is there any way they can enter their VAT number so that VAT does not need to be applied and they are resposible for paying the import taxes.

I have just had a sale and now have to refund the VAT we collected, and then go through Cross border to amend

[Triveda]

Hey Dbaca, just reading your charges:

• Flat fee for all services is €1 per shipment
• Access to Crossborderit's platform for just €19.99 per month for reporting compliance and activities
• Transparent payment processing fee at 3% - Is that 3% of the sales per month?

Thanks

[Dbaca]

The 3% is a processing fee like a credit card fee. This is what PayPal or any payment platform might charge. We try to be transparent about it because the idea in Crossborderit is to have all the charges in the checkout so your customer can pay the complete landed cost in the check out.

[SMU]

Thank you for your help with the IOSS initially when we needed one. I cannot fault the service and in particular your customer service and response time. However, as our store isn't open all year round, we are not able to take the increase when not selling anything. No one would be expected to pay for a service they were not using, and, as a small business we can't. Once again thank you for your help and support with the IOSS.

[Dbaca]

Thank you for working with us. I think over the years we have learned that we are a good fit for some business and not for some others. Our business works well with those that send at least three shipments a day. Having said that you may discontinue service and start again when the season starts. The first 100 shipments per month is included in the price meaning if you ship at least three a day the platform price is all that you will pay.

[TeemuEAS]

Simply not true. The + 3% charge on VAT means that that is not all you pay for their service. 

[nitsa1]

EAS. Do you work with sole traders or only limited companies ? I ask because your registration process requires a copy of company registration documents, seemingly ruling out sole traders. I'm also asking here because you have not replied to this question on your chat box despite leaving email address, twice now. Think you have to do better.

[TeemuEAS]

We DO work with sole traders! 

Apologies for missing your questions. We will do better. 

What is required is UTR, I think SA302, anything that identifies you as a business. IOSS is B2C scheme so that is what we have to show. 

[TeemuEAS]

We are here to help you. If all else fails, just book a meeting with us on our site! 

[Love2Worship]

HI Shay 

It's now nearly 2 years down the line of the 'solution' that isn't really one - all you are saying is that there is no solution to get Taxamon integrated into Shopify.  As as platform provider, I'm very surprised to hear that you only provide solutions for 'legal' requirements.  Wasn't the whole point Shopify came into being to make it easier for small / micro businesses to sell?    The next best app at this point (Feb 2024) seems to be the EAS app which charges £8 a month, so nearly £100 per year which again needs to be justified by EU business.    As the first user, Amanda, mentioned if you have sales that much where £100 is nothing to you (or you can afford the shopify + plan) then you would get your own IOSS and not use any third parties. 

So we need a proper Solution here and given the lapse of time I'm surprised shopify hasn't been able to get any further with this. 

Getting an IOSS solution is much more valuable than any of your AI stuff that produces blant nothings or hallucinations - so best to focus on what's important to businesses than spending vast amounts of efforts, resources and funds on something that brings little benefits.   

[TeemuEAS]

IOSS ALWAYS requires an intermediary for non-EU merchants. Shopify + does not remove the obligation. The reason there are fees for Intermediary services is that the Intermediary is jointly and separately responsible for the taxes. Also, with EAS automations, you do not have to manually manage excels or handle returns or post-sale discounts separately. 

[MichaelC-C]

Shopify seem to have a detailed way of charging the correct VAT but I
haven't tried it yet as I have suspended all sales to EU until we can get an
affordable DDP solution

[MichaelC-C]

It seems CrossBorderEdit is a new Swedish company with a proposal that may
work with any online platform (including entry level Shopify), I found this
about them:

STOCKHOLM, 2021-Mar-25 - /EPR RETAIL NEWS/ - Bring Ventures, Norway Post
venture arm, invests in Crossborderit (CBIT). Other investors participating
are such as Per Victor founder of Firstvet, Clover Hill Holdings LTD. and
MEI Invest... Crossborderit (CBIT) offers a simple solution to postal
services with minimal integration that can guarantee real time payments of
taxes and duties as well as easy low-cost clearances. And this is a solution
we believe will make commerce easier across borders and solve a painpoint in
global trade," says Siri Marie Hagen, Investment Manager Bring Ventures.

[SMU]

Deloitte is far too expensive if you only sell a small amount of items to the EU each week. There is a £300 joining fee then a yearly charge from £2000, whilst this  is a good option for larger merchants, it is not really something I would even consider as we are a small business.

We have closed our store as we are re designing it and we may have to close our orders to EU customers when we re launch, this is not ideal, but if customers are having to pay the VAT and any customs duty to have their £25 tee shirt released from customs, we will have a great many items returned to us. We had hoped by now that Shopify would have catered for all its UK merchants so that we can simply integrate an affordable system where EU customers can pay for their goods, including the VAT at POS to avoid extra charges at customs and delays in delivery.

As a platform that provides a base for merchants I am so suprised nothing has been done and we only have 6 days until the new regulations are implemented.

If shopify do not act on this they will lose many of their UK merchants who will have no choice but to move to a platform that has the seamless requirements in place already.  

Taxamo is only charging £2 per parcel sent to the EU, they file the VAT to the EU on your behalf AND you use their IOSS number, sounds very simple and affordable to UK merchants.

shopify you really need to get your developers on this pronto please.

[dcbouquets]

Desperately echoing the thoughts of all other posters - the Taxamo integration would be a huge boon and reduce what is currently a massive headache for any Shopify sellers who export from the UK to the EU. We need this soon! 

[Dbaca]

If folks are looking for a simple solution that is easy to calculate https://www.crossborderit.com/ioss . We offer IOSS services with a flat fee of 1€ per transaction. There is a ton of ambiguity on the topic and I worry that people are overcomplicating this and that tax services are under complicating it. I am happy to help or answer questions. 

[TimothyCann]

Hi Dbaca (Crossborderit)

Can you confirm how long it usually takes to get an IOSS Number through after registering with you please? Also from a manual submission of the information (as most of us won't have access to our Shopify checkout's for API integration) can you provide any information on how this would need to be submitted to you? 

Thanks.

[Dbaca]

It takes 1-3 days to get a number. You will receive a message from the Swedish tax authorities.  There will be a manual upload for the short term into our system but we have a Shopify extension in beta right now so hopefully it can go automated in about a month. 

[amanda_drury]

I looked at this and was quite alarmed to see two false statements in the first paragraph, I stopped reading here as I lost complete faith in your product. I suggest you fix this

[Dbaca]

I see the confusion and will fix the web copy but to clarify. 

The idea of the IOSS is that the merchant collects the taxes on behalf of the customer. So it can be paid in the buying country. Yes, that is confusing and I will clarify it. 

The second statement I will also modify. The meaning here is for IOSS of course there are both duties and taxes for high-value shipments but it falls out of the IOSS Protocol. 

I will fix the web copy. Thank you for calling it out. 

[amanda_drury]

it was the use of the word 'require' that is incorrect - it is optional to use a IOSS

the second incorrect statement is that you state there was no taxes charged on shipments under 150 euros prior to July 1st when in actual fact the threshold was 22 euros up until July 1st - so there was VAT charged on sales under 150 euros.

I would not trust a company who's supposed to be an expert in these matters and has got the above two points wrong. I didn't read any further so I don't know if there were any other incorrect details

[Dbaca]

Once again I can promise you I am an expert at this. This is a simplification that funnels through marketing.
I do appreciate the heads up as it will be made clearer on the site.

[Beck_Prior]

I just got this from TAXAMO:

At this moment, there is no integration between Shopify and Taxamo.

Our developer's team is currently working on the integration with Magento; their efforts are concentrated on this and we expect to launch this plugin in the coming weeks. We are aware that other plugins would benefit from a direct integration; you can be reassured that we will let you know when this specific plugin integration will be launched.

Having said that, you can build a custom integration by using the Taxamo API; for that, you would need to avail yourself of the services of a developer of your choice.

 - Does this mean it is possible to integrate if we use a developer??  Or is that what was mentioned before: can you only edit API if you are on a shopify plus plan? 

[Dbaca]

We have an API as well that works with any platform. In the short term you can upload a csv file into our platform.. We have a Shopify app in beta which we are testing and will role out soon. We have magneto extensions and woo commerce extensions on the way too.

[almurdo]

Crossborderit looks like it might be the answer for us. We've had a look at the terms of service, which seem onerous which is understandable and had a couple of questions.

1. The Power of Attorney (appendix 3) is a strong legal document please this will only relate to EU customs duty and tax payments and has no authority over UK VAT etc.

2. In the event of cancellation (5.1) it seems reasonable that CBIT has the right to invoice for services rendered but what does the 100% cancellation fee mean? 100% of what?

Thanks for your help.

[colin14]

Not sure why but DPD is already requesting the number for european sales for certain countries over the last couple of days.

We have signed up with crossborder and have our IOSS number and have been able to enter it.

My only issue is why is it a requirement by DPD already and now that I used the number how do I notify crossborder as they have not been touch for any payment or how to upload spreadsheet.  

The actual sale was on Amazon but still needed a number to process as Amazon not issued theirs yet.

[Andrei_S]

How soon after receiving the IOSS number does a company have access to payment and uploading shipments into your system?

We've received our IOSS number but have no instructions on how to implement orders and make the relevant payments through your site.

[Dbaca]

We are preparing final instructions and those who have gotten the IOSS through us will get them this evening.

[TimothyCann]

Hi,

Have received the email with instructions, but I don't see the "Upload" tab in my Crossborderit CBIT account?  Is anyone else having this issue or is it not quite live yet?

[LauraECY]

I had this and contacted them. They are working on updating the system and
will have it live later today. I guess we are too eager!

[LauraECY]

A quick update in case others are having the same issue...

We have an IOSS number from CrossBorderIT and I logged in to Shopify to try and update the tax settings to account for it. 

I was following this information from Shopify help but we do not have these settings. 

I had a long discussion with Shopify support, including setting up a new shipping zone called European Union but our Tax regions only show a full list of countries rather than the shipping zones and specifically not one for European Union. I asked if we needed to set up Registration Based Taxes and the support agent couldn't say if that would fix the issue. We decided to go ahead with that but I am still waiting for an email to allow us to make that change as I am not the store owner. 

I will update as I make progress through the process!!

[LauraECY]

Hi all,

A quick update on where we are up to.

Having the "Registration based Taxes" authorised gave me the correct settings for collecting tax on EU orders below 150EUR. I entered our IOSS number provided by CrossBorderIT and tested a few addresses in our drafts. The taxes appear to be being applied correctly. I will be attempting to upload a couple of orders to CBIT this morning. 

We have also realised that we can't continue to use the Post Office Drop and Go service as they have no way of processing IOSS post, so have had to set up Click and Drop with Royal Mail instead. 

It does feel like we are making progress!

[prispuddings]

Hi

How do you add in reduced rated taxes for some EU countries. These will be country specific.

[Candi_Q]

Hi @LauraECY 

How has the exporting to Crossborderit gone? I am considering this option.

It seems the only potential solution for Taxamo is to pay a shopify expert to integrate it. I imagine this won't be cheap. 

[LauraECY]

So far so good! There were some teething issues with the data upload and I
am hoping they will improve the guidance information as it is quite
confusing.
The key thing is to make sure your Shopify store is set up for Registration
based taxes. There was a bit of confusion with Shopify Support when I asked
to set this up but we got there eventually.

Other considerations are how you send your parcels as I think I mentioned
the Post Office Drop and Go service does not support IOSS shipments. We
have moved to the Royal Mail Click and Drop service to ensure electronic
customs data can be included.

Our only other issue with the process is that we are manually creating
Commercial Invoices for each order. There will be ways to automate this but
we can't justify the outlay at this point.

Now we are just waiting to hear what happens when parcels enter the EU and
if any handling charges are applied!