Feature Request: Make VAT ID available to Carrier Calculated Shipping Apps (Carrier Service API)

Store Feedback
1

Store URL

Store description

We operate a German Shopify store specializing in industrial sandblasting and compressed air equipment. We sell to both B2C and B2B customers across Germany and the European Union.

Our store uses Shopify Markets with tax-inclusive pricing and Carrier Calculated Shipping due to complex shipping requirements such as different parcel rates, multiple pallet sizes, and international shipping zones.

What feedback do you want?

Can Shopify make the VAT ID field or VAT-exempt status available through the Carrier Service API so carrier-calculated shipping apps can correctly adjust shipping rates for EU B2B customer

3

Hey @strahltechnikexpress .
Hope you’re doing great.

Shopify does not pass the VAT ID through the carrier API yet.

Tag you, B2B customers as VAT exempt and set up tag-based shipping rules in your carrier app.

4

Hey @strahltechnikexpress Welcome to Shopify Community
so first of all Shopify Carrier Services API does not pass the customer’s VAT ID OR VAT - exemption status in the rate request payload . the payload only includes Shipping Address , item , weights, and price (already tax-inclusive / exclusive per your setting ), but no tax -Status fields
this is my hope review hope you like if this help full to you then don’t forget to like and mark as solution on it

5

Thank you for your suggestion.

Customer tags are definitely a good solution for existing B2B customers who already have a customer account and are tagged as VAT exempt.

However, our main challenge is with new EU B2B customers and guest checkouts. The shipping rates need to be calculated during checkout before the customer exists in Shopify as a tagged customer.

For example, a new customer from the Netherlands enters a valid VAT ID during checkout. Shopify correctly removes VAT from the product prices, but the carrier calculated shipping app still has no information that the customer is VAT exempt.

This is why we believe that exposing either the VAT ID field or a simple VAT exemption status through the Carrier Service API would be a valuable improvement for merchants selling B2B within the European Union.

For now, we have implemented a workaround using the company field as a trigger for adjusting shipping rates and manually verify every VAT ID in our ERP system after receiving the order.

Thank you again for your input.

6

Thank you for confirming this. This matches the information we received from our carrier shipping app developer.

The main issue is that Shopify already knows the VAT exemption status and correctly adjusts product prices, but this information is not exposed through the Carrier Service API.

For merchants using complex carrier calculated shipping rates in the EU, having access to a simple VAT exempt status (true/false) would be enough. There would be no need to expose the actual VAT ID or require shipping apps to perform VAT validation.