How do I set up VAT and taxes per market?

How VAT works in Storeep

Storeep applies a VAT (Value Added Tax) rate per market (per country). The rate you set for a market is applied at checkout to orders placed by buyers in that country, but only to the items that are marked as Taxable. Two things must both be true for VAT to be charged on an item:

• The buyer's market has a VAT rate above 0%.
• The specific product has its Taxable option turned on.

VAT shows as its own line in the buyer's cart and in the order summary, sitting between shipping and the total. If the amount works out to zero (the rate is 0% or no taxable products are in the cart), the VAT line does not appear at all.

Set the VAT rate for a market

1. Go to Settings, then Markets.
2. Click the market (country) you want to configure.
3. In the market panel, click VAT.
4. The panel shows the country and the current rate (for example, Current VAT rate is 20%).
5. In the VAT rate field, enter the rate as a percentage number. Enter 20 for 20%, not 0.20.
6. Click Save.

Each market keeps its own rate, so you repeat these steps for every country where you charge a different VAT.

VAT rate field rules

The VAT rate field is validated when you save:

• Required: you cannot save it empty. Leaving it blank returns Please enter the VAT rate.
• Numbers only: whole numbers or decimals are both fine (for example 20 or 7.5). A non-numeric value returns The VAT rate you have entered is incorrect.
• Minimum 0: negative values are rejected with the same "incorrect" message. Setting 0 disables VAT for that market and hides the VAT line.
• Maximum 100: a rate above 100% returns The VAT rate must not exceed 100 percent.

Mark a product as taxable

VAT is never charged on a product unless you switch on its Taxable option. By default this option is off, so new products are not taxed until you enable it. To turn it on:

1. Open the product in the Products editor.
2. Go to the Options tab.
3. Turn on Taxable.
4. Save the product.

As the option's own description puts it: once Taxable is activated, taxes for that product are calculated at checkout based on the rate set for each country in your market settings. A single Taxable switch covers every market, the per-country rate is what changes.

How VAT is calculated and shown

At checkout, Storeep adds up the price of the taxable items in the cart and multiplies that taxable subtotal by the market's VAT rate. Non-taxable items are still part of the subtotal a buyer pays, but they contribute zero to the VAT line. The VAT amount is then truncated to two decimal places so partial cents never round up.

The order total is the subtotal minus any discount, plus shipping, plus VAT. The VAT figure is stored on the order so it stays consistent on the order record and in confirmation.

Per-market behavior and edge cases

• Rate follows the buyer's market: the VAT applied is the rate of the market the order is placed in, not your primary market. A buyer in a 0% market pays no VAT even on taxable products.
• Mixed carts: if a cart has both taxable and non-taxable products, VAT is charged only on the taxable portion.
• No taxable items: if nothing in the cart is taxable, the VAT line is hidden even when the market has a rate.
• New markets: a market starts at 0% VAT until you set a rate.

Troubleshooting

• VAT is not showing in carts: confirm the market's rate is above 0% and that the products in the cart have Taxable turned on in the Options tab. Both are required.
• You want to stop charging VAT in a country: open that market, set the VAT rate to 0, and save. The VAT line disappears for that market.
• VAT looks wrong on one product only: check that product's Taxable option rather than the market rate, since the rate is shared across all taxable products.