How to easily create and send VAT invoices in Shopify?

[WRP-Steve]

I have some business customers who insist on a VAT invoice. Is there a simple way of creating and sending a VAT invoice for an order in Shopify?

[Elias]

Hello, @WRP-Steve.

Elias here with Shopify Support. That’s a great question!

I understand you’re looking for a simple way of creating and sending VAT invoices to your customers. There are a few options you can consider for sending invoices with VAT. That said, how are you collecting VAT numbers from your customers at the moment?

The reason I am asking is because some of our merchants collect VAT numbers through the cart notes, which can be added to the invoice through a variable. You can use our free app, Order Printer, to create invoices and show the cart attributes to automatically show the customer’s VAT number on their invoice. Alternatively, there are a couple of third-party apps that can also help with capturing VAT numbers and create invoices. I’ve handpicked a couple for you to look at:

• Sufio: Professional Invoices - Sufio can help create invoices that are EU compliant, they also have a guide for capturing VAT numbers on various pages (eg. Customer account creation page or cart page).  
• Exemptify - this app can help show VAT prices on your product pages as well as capture and validate VAT numbers on the cart page but does not help create invoices.
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If you need any help with these apps, you can always reach out to the developers directly through the contact information found in the Support section of the app’s page.

I hope this provides a couple of suggestions for you to look into! If you have any other questions on invoicing, don’t hesitate to let me know in this thread.

[raycini]

Hi Elias,

Regarding VAT number in invoice.  I got a different situation.  I want to print my VAT number under Invoide address details.  I am using Order Printer app, but cannot find liquid variable for the VAT number.  The VAT number has been added to my shopify settings.  Can you please guide how to include the VAT number in liquid variables or another way to add it. 

Thanks

[Elias]

Hey, @raycini.

Welcome to the thread! I understand you're looking to add your VAT number to the invoices for Order Printer and you've already added your VAT number to your settings. Just to clarify, where did you add your VAT number in your Shopify settings?

If you've added your VAT number to your store address, under 'Settings > General', that will allow Order Printer to pull the VAT numbers from your address automatically. You can do this by adding your VAT number behind your address in Address Line 1 or to Address Line 2. Alternatively, you can also manually add your VAT number to the invoice using the paragraph or heading tags (eg. <p>VAT XXXXX</p>). 

Since Order Printer is a Shopify app, this may also be something that our Theme Support team can help you with. If you run into any roadblocks or if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to let me know!

[raycini]

Thanks Elias for your valuable tips. I did as you suggested and got the desired results.

[Habbymart]

Hi Elias

I've tried to resolve this matter previously on a few occasions.  I need to record "MY" VAT number on an invoice showing the VAT that the customer has paid and i am yet to find a solution for this.  It was suggested i AVADA but on each occasion i try to produce an invoice, AVADA fail me and i have to go into dialogue with them.  My VAT number is recorded in a VAT field on AVDA and it still does not show on the invoice.  Do shopify IT people not realise that we have a legal obligation to show our VAT numbers to customers in the UK if they ask for it?  I did not have this problem with my previous shop provider.  Can you please pass this information on to them and let them know that all we want is for the order page to show VAT break down and display the number.  Its not a big ask for them to comply with this but in the mean time, you force us into having to jump though hoops and climb vey big walls and to be honest, i just dont have time for this.  You're putting barriers in front of us.

Please reply with a suggestion or guidelines on what to do and in the mean time, also update your help pages because there's nothing relevant in them to help us

[Elias]

Hi, @Habbymart.

Thanks for joining the thread!

There are a couple of methods that you can consider for including the VAT on your invoices, such as by adding the VAT to your store details or adding the VAT to your invoices by customizing the templates on Shopify (eg. notifications, Order Printer) or the templates from a third-party app (eg. AVADA, Sufio, etc.).

Typically, third-party apps will pull your information from the store details ('Settings > Store details'), so you can add your VAT to one of the fields. Many merchants will use the second address field and the VAT will be pulled onto their invoices this way. 

Alternatively, if you prefer using an app for invoicing, then I'd recommend using Sufio: Professional Invoices, which is designed for validating and capturing EU VAT numbers. If you need any help with this app, then the app developer is always available to assist you. Simply reach out to them directly through the contact information found in the support section of their app's page.

That being said, was there a particular reason that the suggestions mentioned earlier in this thread didn't work for you? Since there isn't a lot of information on validating and capturing VAT numbers in the app description for Avada: Invoice Order Printer, then can you tell us more about what may have led you to using this app for VAT?

[WeAreFairTrade]

Hi Elias

I think you are missing the point of these questions. When EU customers say they need to add the VAT to their invoices they mean that:
1) Their own VAT number (not the customer's VAT number) needs to be shown at the bottom of the invoice  AND
2) The amount of VAT being charged needs to be clearly shown on the invoice.
Adding the VAT number to Shopify is the easy bit. It is the calculation and recording of the VAT element of the invoice that Shopify does not seem to be able to do. This is a surprising omission from an "international" sales platform.
Are you aware of any apps that can perform BOTH of the functions I have outlined?
Thanks in advance
Mark

[Ana7]

Hey!

You could try to connect Shopify with another tool that provides that, such as Quaderno, that automatically creates Shopify VAT invoices.

Disclaimer: I work at Quaderno.

If you have any question, please feel free to ask 🙂  We are happy to help at support@quaderno.io 

[Sufio]

Hello Steve!

as Elias from Shopify has mentioned above, the Sufio app can help with this!

Sufio is an invoicing app that allows you to capture and validate EU VAT registration numbers from your business customers and, when applicable, automatically set them as tax-exempt. And of course, the VAT registration number will be displayed on the invoice. 

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to us at support@sufio.com, we will be happy to help!

Good luck,

Lenka from Sufio Team 

[SheCodesLiquid]

Hey there, 

This may be a bit too late but I've created a Youtube video to add the tax number to the Order Printer Invoice.  Its pretty simple code changes to the Order Printer Invoice template.
You can check it out from here https://youtu.be/g82jZbCYPUI