Why can't I activate VAT settings for US and Germany on Shopify?

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

Issue: Unable to activate tax settings for Germany (19% VAT) and USA (0%) despite Markets being set up with fixed prices ($10 US, $12 DE expected).

Setup and expectation:

  • Two Market Zones: USA (0% VAT) and Germany (19% VAT).
  • Fixed per‑market prices entered; German customers should see tax applied and reflected at checkout.

Observed behavior:

  • Markets > Germany shows “Not collecting duties and import taxes”; the toggle is greyed out with a prompt to enable them in store settings first.
  • Link leads to Taxes and Duties, where only “EU” can be selected and is already shown as activated, creating a loop. Same for USA.
  • Product page for a German test customer shows “Tax included,” but checkout doesn’t display a tax line.

Context:

  • VAT (value‑added tax) is a sales tax in the EU (e.g., 19% in Germany). “Duties and import taxes” are customs-related charges for cross‑border shipments.

Status:

  • No resolution or guidance from others yet. Key open questions: how to enable market‑specific tax collection and ensure taxes display correctly at checkout.
Summarized with AI on January 22. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hello dear Shopifyers :hugs: I have a problem…

I have set up two Market Zones - USA and Germany.

For US customers, Shopify should apply 0% VAT, while for German customers, it should be 19%.

The Test-product in the shop is priced at $10. So, it should cost $10 for US customers and $12 for German customers (I have entered these fixed prices in the respective Market Zones).

The problem is that Shopify is not applying the taxes, and I seem unable to activate them.

Under SETTINGS/MARKETS/Germany, Shopify still displays the message:

“Not collecting duties and import taxes.”

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When I click on it, the checkbox next to the German section is grayed out, and I cannot enable it. The message reads:

“Set up duties and import taxes in your store first Enable duties and import taxes before making market-specific changes.”

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Clicking on the corresponding link in the note takes me to SETTINGS/TAXES AND DUTIES.

Here, I can only select the EU, not Germany.

When I click on EU, the following screen appears, indicating that the tax for the EU is already activated!

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So, I find myself going in circles, unable to activate the taxes. :roll_eyes:

The same issue applies to the USA!

Visiting the product page as a German Test-customer, it does show “Tax included.”

But, however, the checkout does not explicitly display the taxes (but it should be).