Getting started

What the app does, and the setup steps on its Home, from showing the VAT ID field to seeing VAT come off at checkout.

EU VAT & VIES removes VAT for EU business buyers. A buyer enters their VAT ID in your cart, the app checks it with VIES (the European Commission’s VAT number registry), and if it’s valid and from another EU country than your store’s, VAT comes off at checkout under the reverse-charge rules. Every check is kept in VAT records with the VIES reference that proves it.

The setup guide on the app’s Home walks through the steps below and ticks each one off as it sees it done. The video above shows the same setup in 1:24.

Show the VAT ID field to buyers

The field goes in your theme, in one or both of two places:

Cart drawer: an app embed, switched on in the theme editor under Theme settings → App embeds. Most buyers go from the drawer straight to checkout, so turn this one on first.
Cart page: an app block, added to your cart template. Place it above the Checkout button so buyers see it before they pay.

On Home, Turn on in theme editor opens the theme editor with the embed selected. Turn it on, then press Save in the theme editor. Settings shows whether each one is on in your published theme. The field takes your theme’s fonts and colours, so there’s nothing to style.

Keep reverse charge on

Reverse charge is what removes the VAT. It’s on when you install, and the setup guide shows this step only if it has been turned off. With it off, VAT IDs are still checked and recorded, but every buyer pays VAT. It’s under Settings → VAT handling.

Add your VAT number

Optional, but worth doing. VIES gives a consultation reference, the proof that it confirmed a buyer’s number, only to a business that names its own VAT number when it asks. Without yours, VAT still comes off, but those orders have no proof, and the VAT stays yours to answer for. Add it under Settings → Your business. See What a VAT record shows for what the reference is worth.

Let buyers sign in

Shopify removes VAT only for a signed-in customer: the tax exemption attaches to a customer account, and a guest has none. Show sign-in links in your store and at checkout under Shopify’s Settings → Customer accounts. A guest who enters a valid VAT ID is asked to sign in, and pays VAT if they don’t.

Check you charge VAT to EU countries

The app removes the VAT Shopify charges, so Shopify has to be charging it. In Shopify’s Settings → Taxes and duties, check that you collect VAT for the EU countries you sell to (usually through the One-Stop Shop, OSS), then press I’ve checked on Home.

Home also checks your Markets:

If no active market sells to an EU country other than your own, no business buyer from another member state can reach checkout. Add those countries in Markets.
If a market’s Tax display is "Show as included", a buyer with a valid VAT ID still pays the full price: VAT reads 0, but the price doesn’t drop. Set it to "Dynamic tax display".

See VAT come off at checkout

A two-minute test as a business buyer: sign in to your store as a customer with an address in another EU country, enter a valid VAT ID from that country in the cart, and go to checkout. No order needed: the step ticks itself as soon as VAT comes off. Testing it yourself has the details and what to do if VAT stays on.

Plans

Free includes everything the app does, with 25 VIES validations a month. A number checked again within 24 hours, or one that’s mistyped, doesn’t use one. Once they run out, new numbers aren’t checked until the 1st: those buyers pay VAT, and their orders land in Needs review. Starter removes the cap. Both are under Plan in the app.