Set tax rate to calculate based on office location

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

A food hub operates with one inventory location but offers three pickup points for local customers. Currently, Shopify incorrectly calculates sales tax based on customers’ shipping/billing addresses instead of the business’s main distribution location.

Key Constraint:

  • Multi-location inventory features cannot be used since all inventory exists at a single warehouse
  • Customers select pickup locations at checkout, but this shouldn’t affect tax calculations

Proposed Solution:

  1. Configure the main distribution location as the primary tax nexus in Settings > Taxes and Duties
  2. Disable shipping address-based tax calculations
  3. Use Tax Overrides feature to enforce location-specific rules tied exclusively to the main hub

Status: Solution suggested but not yet confirmed as implemented or effective.

Summarized with AI on November 2. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
2

@UCFoodHub

So, do you want to shopify to collect taxes based on your main location, you can adjust the settings as follows:

  1. Set a Default Tax Location:
    Go to Settings > Taxes and Duties in Shopify, and ensure your main distribution location is the primary tax nexus. This will make taxes calculate based on that location.

  2. Disable Shipping Tax Calculation:
    Disable all shipping tax calculation’s and ensure that no tax calculations are linked to customers’ shipping or billing addresses.

  3. Override Tax Rates:
    Use the Tax Overrides feature in Taxes and Duties to apply location-specific tax rules based solely on your main hub.