Why am I getting a transit time error when setting up VAT rates for digital products?

Shopify Discussion
1

I am selling digital only products that require I charge VAT (in UK and Europe).

I don’t actually need to ship products anywhere (all products are downloaded from the site), but I understand that I do need to set up shipping zones to see what VAT rates I’m charging in EU and UK.

However, whenever I try to add to the shipping zones (either all of Europe - which I’ve set up as a market), or individually by country (eg: Austria) I always get this error: “Locations you’ve added rates for can’t use the same transit time as other location(s) because they are in different countries. To save this profile, select ‘manage’ for those locations to create new rates. Learn more about setting up transit times for different locations.”

I’ve followed the transit time article but it doesn’t seem to explain why I keep getting this error - particularly since I won’t ever actually use the “shipping” zones or transit times.

I have shipping zones for Australia (where I am based), the UK, and “rest of the world” and appear to be collecting taxes in Australia and the UK. But I can’t add any others.

2

Hi, @LizG1

Greetings, and thanks for posting!

I understand that you’re selling digital products and need to charge VAT in the UK and Europe, and that you’re encountering an error when trying to add shipping zones for different countries.

That being said, you shouldn’t need to set up shipping rates to charge VAT. Instead, you’ll enable taxes on digital goods.

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Taxes and duties.
  2. In the Tax calculations section, click Charge VAT on digital goods.
  3. Click Save.
  4. On your Collections page, click Digital Goods VAT Tax.
  5. In the Products section, search for products or click Browse, and then add your digital products to the collection.
  6. After you add your digital products, click Save.

I hope this helps! In the meantime, feel free to provide a link to your store so we can take a look and provide additional support and feedback!