B2B on the same website as B2C with tax free sales for third countries

Ask Me Anything Q&A May 2H Media AMA

Topic summary

A merchant is struggling to implement B2B tax-free sales for business customers from other countries on their Shopify site.

They tested the Exemplify app but encountered multiple issues:

  • Poor widget design and visibility (customers must go to checkout then back to cart to enter/verify VAT)
  • Incorrect tax rate display on invoices
  • Shipping costs calculated as gross instead of net
  • Tax calculations not based on German net prices as required

Shopify support has pointed to the app as the problem, but the merchant suspects a platform-level glitch. They emphasize that with cross-border EU sales becoming standard, Shopify should provide a straightforward solution for:

  • Correct tax-free B2B transactions between EU countries
  • Proper tax rate calculations
  • Accurate invoice generation

The issue remains unresolved with no satisfactory solution currently available.

Summarized with AI on October 28. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

I have been trying to find a solution for B2B on the site so that there is a seamless way customers can put in their VAT to purchase tax free (when buying from another country and is a business). I tried with App like Exemplify but the solution is not satisfactory. The design of the widget is horrible and customers have to first go to checkout and back to the shopping cart page to actually get that option to put in and verify their VAT. They do not see it at first sight and also there is some issues with the invoice with shopify not doing the transaction correctly once it is a purchase. The tax rate is not shown correctly on invoice, it is also not calculating the shipping cost to be net but still gross which is incorrect. all articles as well as the shipping has to be net. And the tax rate to be used for net is the basis of the German net price not the tax rate from the country it is shipping/being sold to. all in all it is not working correctly and there is currently no solution. I asked the customer service center several times and they refer to the App as the problem but I think there is a glitch. With global sales now becoming more the norm, it should be easy to solve this selling from one EU country to another with the correct tax rates and to be able to offer tax free, calculating it correctly and issuing the correct invoices in the backend.