Why is sales tax not being added at checkout with Apple Pay?

Accounting & Taxes

Topic summary

Multiple merchants report sales tax not being charged reliably—often noticed with Apple Pay checkouts—despite tax settings being configured.

Key details and context:

  • An Ohio seller saw taxes and shipping calculated in checkout, but an Apple Pay purchase shipped to California had no tax. Their tax advisor says Ohio (an origin state) requires Ohio tax on all sales; Shopify staff explain tax is based on nexus (a seller’s tax obligation link to a state) and sourcing rules, and advise verifying registrations and settings.
  • Another seller notes Apple Pay buyers weren’t charged tax while other payment methods were.
  • A Florida merchant says tax collection stopped around Aug 2023 (~$50k untaxed). Support flagged missing Tax ID; re-entry didn’t fix it. Attempts included toggling “this is a physical product,” requiring shipping, and changing product categories. Checkout sometimes shows tax, but it isn’t collected on the backend.
  • Others report intermittent behavior (tax amounts reverting to $0; Ohio customers suddenly untaxed with unchanged settings).

Status and actions:

  • No in-thread resolution. Shopify staff cannot investigate accounts via the forum and direct users to the Help Center/live chat.
  • Suggested checks: nexus registrations, product classification (physical vs digital), shipping requirements/zones, and product categories. Open questions remain about Apple Pay-specific behavior and any platform changes in Aug 2023.
Summarized with AI on December 23. AI used: gpt-5.
1

I set up my store to collet tax. I contacted my “local tax authority” and set it up to pay Ohio sales tax. I added a product to the shopping cart and went to the checkout screen. Both shipping and taxes were calculated. But then the customer bought the product via Apple Pay and of course was not charged sales tax. Can anyone offer any solid advice or action items?

Again, I know what I need to collect based on my state and the “local tax authority.” This is driving me batty. I’ve been round and round with Shopify about it. Can anyone help?

2

Hi there, @ErinTWS !

Thanks for reaching out, I’m happy to look into this with you.

Was the customer located in a state where you have a nexus (which determines whether you need to collect taxes)? If you’re only collecting taxes in Ohio, and the customer isn’t located in Ohio, taxes won’t be applied. Ohio is an origin state, where the general rule is that the sales tax you charge is based on your location’s nexus, the location where the products are shipped from, or the location where other sales activity occurs.

  • If you have no nexus in the state of the shipping address, then no tax is charged.

  • If you have a physical nexus in the state of the shipping address and you’re registered to collect tax there, then the location of your nexus might be used to determine taxes. If you have an economic nexus but no physical location, then the customer’s location might be used to determine taxes.

You can read more about tax sourcing in this help document.

If the customer is located in a state where you are required to collect taxes but tax still wasn’t charged, let me know and I’d be happy to look into this more.

Feel free to ask if you need any further clarification or have additional questions!

3

The customer was located in CA. My tax person is saying that I am going to owe Ohio sales tax on each sale, regardless of where the product is shipped since Ohio is an origin state. You are correct, I am just starting my business so do not have nexus in CA. I have some digital products and I have been asking friends out of state and the country to test it for me. My digital products seem to have tax added at checkout. Granted, my friends are located in IL and the UK.

4

Hi, @ErinTWS !

Thanks for getting back to me. Shopify automatically calculates the taxes that should be charged, based on the tax registration information you provide in your admin. If you believe the wrong tax is being charged on your orders, feel free to get in touch with us through the Help Center and our team can take a closer look.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

5

Did you ever find a solution to this? I’m noticing that my customers that pay with Apple Pay are not charged sales tax but all of my other customers are being charged correctly.

6

No, I didnt. I mean, it’s possible that I am misinformed regarding sales tax. I am just going to save Ohio sales tax back from every order and see what happens when I submit September’s sales tax. I give up.

7

Hi, @LaurenC11 !

I recommend contacting our live support team through the Help Center if you believe incorrect taxes are being charged (or not charged) on your orders, as we can investigate further there. To do so, you can enter the details of your issue into the chat assistant and you’ll be prompted to connect with a Support Advisor (or you can select I still need help).

Let me know if you have any questions!

8

I have also having a sales tax issue and no one from shopify has been able to help me.

9

Hi, @Jprazzz !

I’m sorry to hear about your issue. Can you tell me more about what you’ve been experiencing, and what happened when you tried to get support? I’d be happy to investigate further!

10

I have had my store online since 2022. In Q3 of 2023 my store stopped collecting sales tax, roughly August. I had no idea. When it came time for me to pay I noticed the issue.

I reached out via the online support back in December of 23 and they saw that my Tax ID was not set up. Which is crazy because I set it up myself and it had been working fine for over a year. I re-entered my info and was told this should fix the problem.

The problem has since NOT been fixed. I now have roughly 50k in sales that have not collected Florida Sales Tax and not I have to come out of pocket with penalties.

From my research, it seems as though Shopify changed their platform in Aug of 23 when it comes to sales tax. Without telling their clients.

The tech I spoke with last night told me that I all of my items were set up as “digital items” and that’s why they were collecting sales tax. But I made ZERO changes to my store.

They advised to make sure the “ this is a physical product” box is checked and that that would fix the issue. However that did not fix the problem.

I tried to making “shipping required” in a bulk edit which also did NOT help.

I also changed the “product category” which I thought would going to work. But it did NOT.

When in the checkout of my store, sales tax is applied. But in the back end, it is NOT collected.

When I create a draft order, it only applies the sales tax when the “this is a physical product” box is check AND the “product category” is updated to a different category then before. However when it becomes a physical product it requires me to create shipping zones and I do NOT ship my products. St this point, it makes it so there’s no way to checkout of my store.

I’m really at this point just at a loss. Sales will continue to pour into my store and I will be liable for the sales tax.

It is absolutely ridiculous that in December 23, last night, and today no one from Shopify is able to solve my issue especially when it was their programming change that caused all these problems.

I feel as tho Shopify is responsible for this and should make me whole, on top of making sure my store is working correctly.

11

Hi, @Jprazzz .

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience, and I’m sorry to hear it’s been such an ordeal.

Since I’m unable to access your account through the Community Forums, I recommend continuing to work with our team on your open ticket. We’d be happy to answer any questions and provide guidance on next steps.

Thank you so much again!

12

I have 3 orders where sales tax should have been collected but it did not, shows as following

Tax amount was updated from $63.15 USD to $0.00 USD.

Same user order multiple times and some orders charged Tax and some orders are not? Why would this occur?

13

Hey, @UglyChristmasS1 .

Thank you for joining the thread.

If you’re registered for Nexus tax, then the sales tax is determined based on the location of your store and the customer’s location. However, if you believe there’s a mistake, then it looks like we’ll need to access your account in order to have a closer look at the orders. While we’re unable to provide account-specific support via the Shopify Community, we’d be happy to continue assisting you through live chats. Please visit the Shopify Help Center and login to your account to create a support request.

If you have any other questions on this topic, then don’t hesitate to let us know.

14

All of sudden, my customers in Ohio no longer have sales tax added and every setting is unchanged since I set it up. They previously did get charged tax but now, nothing. Cannot find any help on this. Very frustrating.