One Product, Two Variants, Three Tax Rates - Possible?

Accounting & Taxes

Topic summary

Shopify setup for online cooking webinars needs different tax treatment for each purchasable component of the same offering. The base class is $30 and should use retail tax (8.025%), while optional add-ons use separate rates: Food Kit $75 at food tax (11.025%) and Wine Pairing $35 at liquor tax (13.525%).

The key issue is whether Shopify can handle one product with optional components that each require their own tax rate. Variants appear insufficient because the taxable portions are different by add-on, not just by product option.

An app for add-ons or another product-configuration method is being considered, but no solution is provided yet. The discussion remains open, with the main unanswered question being how to structure these options in Shopify so each selected item is taxed correctly.

Summarized with AI on March 10. AI used: gpt-5.4.
1

We are setting up a store to sell online webinars for cooking classes. There are three configurations for purchasing a class and in our city/state (Minneapolis, MN USA) each add-on/variant gets a different tax rate.

Class $30 + retail tax 8.025%
Food Kit $75 + food tax 11.025%
Wine Pairing $35 + liquor tax 13.525%

So someone can buy just the class and that portion is taxed the 8.025%. They can also choose to have the class and add the Food Kit and/or the Wine Pairing, but each of those items needs to be taxed at different rates. How would I do this with Shopify? I don’t think variants will do it, so do I need an app for add-ons?\

Thanks!

–Clay