Can I set up different shipping tax rates on products in the Netherlands?

Topic summary

Issue: Dutch (and broader EU/India) VAT rules require shipping VAT to match the product VAT; if an order mixes rates, shipping VAT must be split proportionally. Merchants need shipping tax to follow product tax (e.g., 21% vs 9% in NL) within Shopify.

Initial guidance: Set product tax via “tax overrides” by collection and enable “Charge tax on shipping rates.” Expected: shipping VAT mirrors product VAT; for mixed carts, majority rate applied.

Findings: Real orders show mismatches (e.g., product at 21% but shipping taxed at 9%). Shopify replicated the issue. Merchants provided official guidance from the Dutch Belastingdienst and Sweden’s Skatteverket supporting proportional shipping VAT.

Shopify status: Automated tax system cannot currently implement different or proportional shipping VAT per order. Feature request logged; no ETA, and no confirmation it will be implemented. Images/screenshots were shared to demonstrate the issue.

Workarounds: Only manual, per‑order refunds; no bulk correction. No reliable third‑party app identified in the thread.

Scope/impact: Similar legal requirements reported in NL, SE, BE, IT, and India. Merchants cite compliance risk and margin loss.

Current state: Unresolved and ongoing. Key open question: when/whether Shopify will support shipping VAT that follows product VAT, including proportional splits for mixed-rate orders.

Summarized with AI on December 14. AI used: gpt-5.

We have the similar situation in Sweden and I am working on a store that needs exactly this.

Here is the information from the Swedish tax authorities (in Swedish though): https://www.skatteverket.se/omoss/varverksamhet/rapporterremissvarochskrivelser/skrivelser/arkiv/ar/2002/2002/skrivelser20020913.4.18e1b10334ebe8bc80001578.html

If there is a mix of items with different tax rates, then the tax rates (VAT) for the shipping should be split up accordingly.

In my case, we have 12% and 25% VAT on items in the store.