Feature Request: Integration of Taxamo assure into the checkout for UK companies selling to EU

[amanda_drury]

I'm not sure how to put in a features request - please can someone tell me if this way doesn't work.

I have been looking into how as a small business I can improve the experience for my EU customers of purchasing from myself, post Brexit as a UK business.

Royal Mail have recommended a company called Taxamo assure which acts as a IOSS. They calculate and charge the customer VAT and pay it to the EU on our behalf without us having to fill in the VAT return. They charge £2 for each transaction. It sounds like the perfect solution but unless you are a shopify plus business one cannot get access to the Shopify checkout and do the API integration. The irony is if you are a shopify plus customer you will be big enough and it will be more cost effective to set up your own IOSS.

I have spoken to support about this who have suggested that I put in a feature request. So here it is. If more people can also express an interest in this feature it may have more chance of being implemented and go somewhere to ease the Brexit headache of doing business with the EU.

[Dbaca]

The 3% is a processing fee like a credit card fee. This is what PayPal or any payment platform might charge. We try to be transparent about it because the idea in Crossborderit is to have all the charges in the checkout so your customer can pay the complete landed cost in the check out.

[Dbaca]

I think the biggest thing folks complain about with Crossborderit is billing because there the customer receives a statement for duties and taxes and an invoice for services weekly. If you look at the reviews this what the two complaints are about. We have 500 customers and we have many folks that are perfectly happy with our service. We are changing our billing process to better address that issue. The platform works very well and I believe is the most compliant compared with our compeditors.

[anatomie]

When you calculate the tax and duties at the checkout @Dbaca you must require the HS codes for our products. Where does your app get this from?

[Dbaca]

You only require the HS codes for shipments above €150.. The Shopify app will calculate otherwise. For the above €150 we have a classification support system that will support calculation of duties and taxes. It is always good to have a harmonized code. I you would like to start classifying your goods I can get you into our beta group for the classification platform. You do not need it for IOSS.

[anatomie]

Hmm, @Dbaca I don't think that's true - we need the HS codes on all our shipments in order to calculate the duties. 

[Dbaca]

You should always Use and H.S. code but duties into Europe are only levied for shipments above €150. Below that threshold only taxes are levied. You do not need an H.S. code to determine taxes unless you are shipping something like printed material that has a lower VAT rate.

[colin14]

Please can someone advise we are set up on shopify with cross border and all automated.

However if a business customer purchases for item under €150 is there any way they can enter their VAT number so that VAT does not need to be applied and they are resposible for paying the import taxes.

I have just had a sale and now have to refund the VAT we collected, and then go through Cross border to amend

[leathersatchel]

Here's a current summary of the situation as of early March 2022;

You can't register as a UK company at the time of writing, you have to use an intermediary.

Most intermediaries are £1000s per month to use and are not suitable for SMEs due to price.

Taxamo Assure seems to be the best solution for SMEs in the UK as they only charge £2 per item, in addition to the actual duty and tax fees for import.

Implementation of Taxamo Assure by Shopify is only available to Shopify Plus accounts.  

Shopify informs non-plus clients to enable International tax collection on all normal accounts and modify the invoices, etc. to include your intermediaries' IOSS details.

When doing this parcels are still being stopped by customs and clients are still being charged VAT and DUTY.

[elioraplans]

so it seems that the only option for those still growing is either cross-border it which will be at least the 19.99euro charge per month, or pay for shopify plus and be able to use taxamo because you can manually apply the info. 

I know I'm from the UK and there will be others that are not in the UK in similar positions so has anyone come up with a resolution that for a business still in its infancy is an affordable option (i.e. not a monthly price fee attached).