VAT records and export
What each VAT record shows, which orders need you, and how to download your records as CSV or PDF.
VAT records in the app lists every order with what the app decided about its VAT and the proof behind it. Records are kept for 90 days, stored in the EU, then deleted, so download them for your own books.
What a record shows
| Column | What it means |
|---|---|
| Order | The order, by the name Shopify gave it. |
| VAT ID | What the buyer entered, tidied up: spaces and dots removed, letters uppercased. A dash means the order carried no VAT ID, which is most of them. |
| VIES status | What VIES answered about the number, or why it was never asked. |
| Decision | What the app did about VAT. Only Reverse charge, new or carried over, changes the tax. |
| Reference | The VIES consultation reference that proves the check. |
| Tax | The tax Shopify applied to the order, exactly as the order records it, with the rate underneath. The app never recalculates tax. |
| Date | The date of the sale. |
Open an order to see its page: why it’s in a view, what to do next, and a link to the order in Shopify.
VIES status
- Valid: VIES confirmed the number was registered for cross-border EU trade at the moment of the check. The only answer that can lead to VAT being removed.
- Invalid: VIES doesn’t recognise the number, so VAT was charged.
- Wrong format: the number didn’t match the format its country issues, so the buyer was asked to correct it. No validation was spent.
- No answer: VIES, or the member state’s system behind it, didn’t answer. The order went through with VAT on it and is flagged for you.
- Not checked: this month’s free validations were used up, so the number was never sent to VIES. The order went through with VAT on it and is flagged for you.
Decision
- Reverse charge: the VAT ID is valid and from another EU country than your store’s, so VAT was removed and the reverse-charge note added.
- Reverse charge (carried over): the buyer’s VAT ID was confirmed earlier and that confirmation still stands, so Shopify applied the same exemption without a new check. Its reference is on the order where the number was checked.
- VAT charged — guest: the VAT ID was valid, but the buyer checked out as a guest, so VAT stayed on.
- Domestic B2B: the VAT ID is valid, but the buyer is in your own country. VAT applies as normal.
- VAT charged: nothing qualified the order for reverse charge, so Shopify’s tax stands.
- VAT charged — not checked: the check couldn’t be settled (VIES didn’t answer, or the free validations had run out), so VAT stayed on and the order is flagged for you.
The VIES reference
A consultation reference is a number VIES issues recording that it confirmed that VAT ID on that date. It’s on the order’s page in VAT records and on the order itself as a VIES reference attribute, so it reaches your invoice and your accountant without anyone copying it.
It’s your answer to "why was no VAT charged on this EU sale?". Without it you have only your own word, and if the buyer’s number later turns out to have been invalid, the VAT lands on you.
VIES issues a reference only when you name your own VAT number, so add it under Settings. A reference exists only from the moment of the check: correcting your VAT number today can’t add one to orders already placed. Two orders can share a reference: a confirmed answer is kept for 24 hours, so a buyer who orders twice in a day is checked once.
Orders that need you
The tiles at the top of VAT records count what’s waiting:
- Needs review: an order the app couldn’t settle. VIES didn’t answer, the free validations had run out, the buyer checked out as a guest, or a market showed tax as included. VAT stayed on, so nobody was under-charged. The order’s page says why and what to do: usually check the number on VIES (Check on VIES, with Copy VAT ID beside it), and if it’s valid, refund the VAT in the order. Then Mark reviewed takes it out of the count. The Reviewed view keeps it findable, and Reopen puts it back.
- Tax mismatch: reverse charge was decided, but the order still carries tax, so the buyer paid VAT they didn’t owe. A shipping tax or a mixed cart is the usual cause. Refund the VAT in the order, then press Mark refunded on the record’s page.
To clear them all at once, the Needs review view has Mark all reviewed, which asks before it does.
Finding orders
Search by order or VAT ID, pick a month, or switch the view: All, Carried over, VAT removed, Reviewed. Sort by newest, oldest or most tax first.
Downloading your records
Download CSV and Download PDF give you the orders the table is showing: every record, or the month, view and search you’ve narrowed it to. The file has one row per order with the same columns as the screen plus the order’s status, and is named for what it holds, such as vat-records-2026-10.csv.
Records older than 90 days are deleted. Before a month’s records go, Home and VAT records warn you, with a button to download that month. Downloading every record, or a whole month, stands the warning down. How long to keep the files after that is a question for your accountant.