Northern Ireland tax settings when shipping from Ireland to NI

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Topic summary

Irish merchants face a critical tax configuration issue when selling to Northern Ireland through Shopify. Due to post-Brexit arrangements, NI follows different rules than the rest of the UK: goods shipped from Ireland to NI should incur Irish VAT (23%) but no customs charges, while UK shipments require customs fees but no Irish VAT.

The core problem: Shopify groups Northern Ireland with the UK in the “Taxes and Duties” section, making it impossible to apply the correct 23% Irish VAT rate to NI orders. The system incorrectly applies UK VAT rates (0% or 20%) instead.

What doesn’t work: While Shopify allows splitting NI from the UK in shipping zones, this only affects shipping rates—not tax calculations. One moderator suggested using registration-based tax settings, but users report this doesn’t resolve the fundamental issue.

Current status (2025): Multiple sellers confirm the problem persists with no workaround available. Shopify support reportedly denies the issue exists. Merchants emphasize this creates incorrect VAT reporting to EU authorities, as NI should be treated as part of the EU customs territory for goods movement purposes but isn’t selectable as a separate country in Shopify’s Markets section.

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

Hi all,

We are having an issue with setting up the correct tax for Northern Ireland. We ship from Ireland to Northern Ireland and the UK. The tax and VAT requirements are different in both places. When shipping to NI customers are have to pay Irish VAT but not customs. When shipping to the UK, customers have to pay customs on the order but no Irish VAT. Shopify has grouped Northern Ireland together with the UK on the shipping profile. This means that we can’t set up the correct VAT rate for NI - it will be grouped with UK and the invoice will show customs charges on orders which is incorrect. Northern Ireland needs to an independent category for shipping purposes given the different VAT/customs rules for NI and the UK. Is anyone else having the same problem ? Shopify needs to address this as it impacts on Irish sellers being able to sell to Northern Ireland and the UK.

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2

Hi @luluandbelle ,

Thank you for getting in touch. When creating your shipping zones the United Kingdom can now be split into five parts, so it is possible for you split the Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK when it comes to your shipping zones:

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You can find information about UK taxes and Brexit over on the Shopify Help Center, and there is a dedicated section regarding VAT calculation in Northern Ireland. This page includes a guide on how VAT is charged dependent on the order’s origin and it’s destination when you are using registration-based tax settings.

I hope this helps but please let me know if you have more questions.

3

I am also experiencing this problem.

The explanation you have shown just shows how to set up a different shipping rate for NI than the rest of the UK.

The problem is that in the “taxes and duties” section you cannot separate NI from the UK. When shipping from Ireland the VAT rate should be 23% to NI and 0% to the rest of the UK. Shopify does not separate the UK from Northern Ireland in this section so it sets the UK and Northern Ireland to 0% VAT. You can see this in the section where you change country on a shops homepage, there is only and option for United Kingdom £ but there is nothing for Northern Ireland £.

I’m not sure there is a solution to this, it seems like something Shopify needs to address but any help would be greatly appreciated!

2 Likes
4

Same problem here. I only ship within Ireland - ROI and NI, but when I ship to NI, Shopify insists on charging Great Britain rates of VAT, which are lower than Irish rates. Also, we’re not registered for GB VAT because we don’t ship to GB.

Literally says GB VAT 20% (Included) and nothing is going anywhere near Great Britain.

5

We need an update on this from Shopify, VAT is still calculated based on UK for shipments going to NI

6

Hi, @Victor_5 have you managed to address this yet?

Northern Ireland, after the Brexit agreement, is considered part of the EU for Customs Purposes. Goods moving between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland do not carry customs charges, it is a Free Trade Zone.

Companies in the Republic who are selling goods to consumers in Northern Ireland, must charge Tax at the Republic’s rate.

7

I have the same issue in 2025 still, no workarounds yet and the Shopify Support pretends there’s no issue at all…

8

Any updates on this? Sale of goods to Northern Ireland from another EU country should be treated like an intra EU sale which is still not possible as NI is not considered a country in the Markets section. This means it is still not possible to correctly tax these sales which means all sale to Northern Ireland on Shopify is incorrectly reported to the European authorities.
Please get this sorted as it seems like a rather easy fix; just make NI selectable both as a country and as a UK region.