If your Shopify store is connected to Kintsugi through the read-only integration, tax collection happens inside Shopify. You add your VAT registrations in your Shopify admin, Shopify charges the right VAT at checkout, and Kintsugi imports those transactions to track your exposure and handle your filings.

That means the settings below live in your Shopify admin, not in Kintsugi. This guide walks you through each one.

First, know which registration type you need

• Local VAT registration. You are registered for VAT in a specific EU country

• OSS (One-Stop Shop). You ship within the EU to customers in other EU countries and report that VAT through a single OSS return

• Micro-business registration. Your sales to other EU countries are €10,000 or less per year, so you can usually charge your home country VAT rate instead

• IOSS (Import One-Stop Shop). You are located outside the EU and ship goods into the EU. You collect VAT at checkout on orders of €150 or less so your customer is not charged VAT again at delivery

• UK VAT. You are registered with HMRC and collect UK VAT at checkout

A few rules that decide between them:

• OSS is for merchants with EU locations. If you ship into the EU from outside it, use IOSS instead

• OSS and IOSS cannot both be active in Shopify at the same time

• OSS requires your store to use Shopify Tax or Basic Tax. Stores opened on or after May 13, 2026 cannot use Basic Tax, so they use Shopify Tax or manual tax settings

If you are not sure which registrations you hold, check your Kintsugi Registrations page or reach out via the chat bubble.

Set up EU VAT (local, OSS, or micro-business)

1. Open your Shopify admin and go to Settings.

2. Click on Taxes and duties.

3. Search for the European Union or scroll down to click on the European Union.

4. Pick the option that matches your registration:

a. For a local registration, in the Collect VAT in an EU country section, click Collect VAT, then select the country.

b. For OSS, in the Collect VAT cross-border section, click Collect VAT then select the country, and enter your VAT number.

c. For the micro-business option, in the Collect VAT cross-border section, then select the home country registration option, and enter your VAT number.

5. Click Collect VAT.

To add a registration in another country later, return to the page and click Collect in another location. You can edit or remove any registration here at any time.

If you started on the micro-business exemption and grow past it, you cannot add further registrations to it. Switch your registration type to OSS or country-specific registration first.

Set up IOSS

Before you start, you need three things: a location outside the EU, an issued IOSS identification (IM) number from your registration, and a shipping profile in Shopify that covers the European Union. Tax settings for a region only appear after a shipping zone exists for it.

1. Open your Shopify admin and go to Settings.

2. Select Taxes and duties.

3. In the Regional settings section, click European Union.

4. In the Collect on Orders Shipping to the EU (IOSS) section, click Collect Import VAT.

5. Complete these fields.

   1. Select the registration country.

   2. Enter your IOSS VAT number.

   3. Click Collect VAT.

One IOSS entry covers all 27 EU member states, so you do not need to switch on individual countries. If Shopify will not let you select IOSS, check whether individual EU country entries or an OSS registration are already active, since these block it.

Set up UK VAT

1. Open your Shopify admin and go to Settings.

2. Select Taxes and duties.

3. Search for the United Kingdom or scroll down to click on the United Kingdom, then click Collect VAT.

4. Enter your GB VAT number exactly as HMRC issued it. Click Collect VAT again to save.

One UK registration covers England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. There is no per-region setting.

If you applied for a UK VAT number and are still waiting, Shopify lets you leave the field blank and add the number later. Whether you should collect VAT before your number is issued depends on your situation, so ask us through the chat bubble before turning collection on with a blank number.

Check that it worked

Each registration you added should now appear in its section with your number. If you see an Estimated VAT collected label, that entry is missing its number.

Then place a test order:

• To an EU address for €150 or less, if you set up IOSS, and confirm VAT appears at checkout

• To a UK address for £135 or less, if you set up UK VAT, and confirm VAT appears at checkout

• To a Northern Ireland address, if you ship there, since the treatment depends on where your goods ship from

Within about a day, your test order should also appear in Kintsugi as an imported transaction. That confirms the full loop: Shopify collecting, Kintsugi tracking.

Good To Know

• The €150 IOSS limit and the £135 UK limit both apply to the total order value, not to each item. An order of several small items can cross the limit

• Above those limits, Shopify does not charge VAT at checkout. That is expected behavior, not an error. Import VAT and any duties are handled when the goods are imported

• From July 2026, the EU began removing the €150 customs duty exemption, so customs duties can apply to imported goods even when IOSS covers the VAT

• If some products carry special VAT rates, Shopify supports tax overrides, and on Shopify Tax, product categories reduce how many manual overrides you need

• For orders involving Northern Ireland on Shopify Tax, the treatment depends on origin and destination: UK VAT applies between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and EU VAT applies between the EU and Northern Ireland

• Shopify charges the tax at checkout, and Kintsugi handles the tracking and filings. Shopify does not file or remit taxes for you

• Keep the VAT invoices setting off until all your registration numbers are entered

Need Help?

For further concerns, we're always here to help. If you can't find the answer you're looking for, just reach out to us using the chat in the bottom right corner of your screen.