I’m going to moving to London in a few months and want to keep my small store up and running when I move. Im currently based in Canada and I make small handmade wares from earrings to totebags. I dont believe I’ll have to register for VAT since Im way below the annual threshold (85,000 pounds).
I’m curious what I should be aware of when making the move over however. How should I transition my store over when I move so that everything continues to run smoothly and I can sell the occasional product here and there?
Thanks for posting, and how exciting that you’re moving to London!
Moving your store’s location shouldn’t be an issue. However, if you’re using Shopify Payments you may need to take your store offline for a day or two, as you will need to deactivate the gateway to change your country.
To achieve this, head to Settings > General in your Shopify Admin and select’Deactivate Shopify Payments’ from your billing country. Once this is deactivated you can adjust your address as necessary, then reinstall Shopify Payments for the U.K. Since you are moving countries you will most likely be asked to verify your information for the U.K. such as identification and address. As such, I don’t recommend changing your store over until you have all the necessary documents in place to verify your location and identity.
In regards to taxation, we always recommend you consult with a local tax specialist. However, we also have a document here on taxation in the U.K.
You will also want to consider the currency change if you decide to change from USD to GBP as you will need to update your product prices. Please note, changing your currency will not automatically convert your products price. For example, if you have a product listed at $1 USD and change your currency it will change to £1 GBP.
Just to clarify - you wrote “sell the occasional product here and there”. So you are going to sell in two countries, not simply moving from one country to another, right?