A Shopify store owner needs to handle pricing for both VAT-paying and VAT-exempt customers. Currently, prices are stored as gross amounts, and when customers are marked VAT-exempt, they still pay the same total with VAT simply displayed as zero—not the intended net price.
The Problem:
Initial advice suggested unchecking “All prices include tax” in Settings > Taxes and Duties, but this option doesn’t exist for UK/EU regions where VAT-inclusive pricing is mandatory.
The Solution:
Shopify doesn’t allow tax-exclusive pricing in VAT regions by default.
Proper VAT exemption requires either Shopify Plus (with custom scripts) or third-party apps like Exemptify.
The store owner ruled out Shopify Plus due to cost and plans to explore Exemptify instead.
Status: Resolved with a recommended approach; the user requested private contact information for further assistance.
Summarized with AI on October 28.
AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
I have some customers who pay VAT and some who do not.
At the moment my prices are stored as Gross and VAT is displayed as an amount which has been charged. If I make the customer VAT exempt they are still charged the same value as the Gross price, but vat is then displayed as 0.
I have been advised the below which is incorrect as there is no option to uncheck “All prices include tax”.
Go to: Settings > Taxes and Duties
Under each region (e.g., EU, UK, etc.),
Uncheck “All prices include tax”
This tells Shopify your prices are net, and it will add tax on top based on the customer’s location.
Product Variant Setup:
Leave “Charge tax on this product” checked.
Enter your net price for each product.
For VAT-exempt customers:
You can tag them (e.g., exempt) and use Shopify Plus scripts or third-party apps like Exemptify (if not on Plus) to manage VAT exclusions.
you’re correct—Shopify doesn’t allow unchecking “All prices include tax” in regions like the UK/EU where VAT-inclusive pricing is mandatory. For VAT-exempt customers, you’ll need Shopify Plus scripts or a third-party app like Exemptify to properly adjust the pricing.
If you’d like help setting this up or want me to help create a custom app for your store, feel free to reach out to me. Thanks!
Shopify does not support this feature now or in the future. Many of our customers encountered this issue, so we decided to build this app a few years ago. Since then, we have fully optimized it. It now includes logging, post-order validation to check whether the shipping address matches the VAT number, storing the VIES-verified address, and much more. I hope this helps you move forward. This is all part of our EU Tax Exemption app.
The neat solution to catering for both VAT and non-VAT customers without restructuring your entire store is to store prices as gross and then remove VAT for appropriate customers based on logic rather than converting to net pricing. A storefront function or a light app that subtracts the VAT from the gross price on the checkout page for those customers that are exempt. This removes the need to use the “All prices include tax” toggle, and keeps your public prices correct, while allowing exempt customer to automatically see the reduced total.