How-to › Start here
Set Up Sales Tax and VAT
Charge the right tax in the right places. Apply the settings recommended for your country, check sales tax, VAT, Canadian tax or an automatic service, mark products taxable and test. 11 parts.
Quick links
Where to find it:WP Admin › EasyCart › Settings › Taxes
Before you start
What you need
What the plugin can and cannot decide for you, and which system fits where you sell.
What you need
Know where you owe tax before you touch a setting
What you need. The places you have to collect tax, and the rates. WP EasyCart charges what you tell it to. It does not know your tax obligations, so check them with your accountant or your tax authority first.
Free or PRO. A flat rate, rates by state and country, VAT, Canada GST/PST/HST and duty are all in the free plugin. Automatic rates from TaxCloud or TaxJar are PRO or Premium features. Avalara AvaTax is an extension included with Premium. There is a 14-day free trial if you want to try the automatic services.
Which system. Pick the one that matches where you sell:
United States. Rates by state, or an automatic service.
European Union, UK and other VAT countries. VAT.
Canada. The GST, PST and HST grid.
One rate everywhere. The flat rate.
The steps are: apply the settings recommended for your country, check each part, mark each product taxable, then test.
⚠️ Careful: WP EasyCart charges the tax you set. It cannot tell you what you owe. Confirm your obligations with your accountant or tax authority before you sell.
Set it up
Six steps to charging the right tax
Recommended settings, base rules, rates by place, VAT, Canada, duty, automatic services, products and a test.
Step 1. Start from the recommended settings
Today’s rates for your country, applied in one click
WP EasyCart knows the usual tax settings for the United States, Canada, the UK, every EU country, Australia, New Zealand and a number of other countries. It offers them in two places:
The setup wizard. On its first step, Location & currency, pick your country ( and your state or province in the US and Canada ). The tax box then lists what will be set. Set up tax for my country is ticked when no tax is set up yet; if tax is already set up, the box reads Update my tax settings to these and lists what would change. VAT and GST countries also choose whether prices include the tax; EU stores choose how they charge consumers in other EU countries.
Settings › Taxes. The Recommended for your country card at the top lists each change with the value now, the value after and why. Press Apply ( the button counts the changes ), or Keep my settings to hide the card until the recommendation changes in an update. For a day after applying, Undo puts back what you had.
The rest of the page then leads with your country’s system. Tax systems you do not use fold under Other tax systems. The steps below check each part.
💡 Note: Not registered for VAT or GST yet? For the UK, Australia and New Zealand, the card’s notes say from what yearly sales you usually need to be. Until you are, switch Charge VAT off under Settings › Taxes.
Step 2. Check where you collect
One flat rate, and whether shipping is taxed
Open EasyCart › Settings › Taxes. The Where you collect card holds the base rules for every order:
Flat rate on every order: one rate on every taxable order, whatever the destination. Use rates by state or country instead when tax depends on where you ship.
Flat tax rate: the percentage charged on the taxable subtotal.
Charge tax on shipping: adds the shipping charge to the amount your flat, state, country and Canadian rates apply to. It does not apply to TaxCloud.
If you applied the recommended settings, the flat rate is off: tax depends on where the order goes, so a flat rate would charge everyone the same.
💡 Note: Every field on the tax page is explained in Settings › Payments & Taxes › Taxes.
Step 3. Rates by state and country
One row per place you collect
Use these when tax depends on where the order ships.
Rates by state: one row per state or province. The rate applies when the shipping address is in that state, and a state with no row is not taxed. Press Add a state rate, pick the State, enter the Rate and press Add rate.
Rates by country: one row per country. The rate applies when the shipping address is in that country and no state rate matched first.
A rate must be between 0 and 100. Add a row for every state or country where you have to collect tax, and only those. Deleting a rate does not change orders already placed, which keep the tax they were charged.
Step 4. Check VAT or GST
One rate or a rate per country, with a business rate
In the VAT section, Charge VAT is on once you applied the recommended settings for a VAT or GST country; otherwise turn it on. Then check:
Tax name: Automatic says GST in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia and India and VAT elsewhere. With GST, the section, checkout, receipts and invoices say GST.
Rate varies by country: uses the country rates in the table once the shopper enters their address. Off charges the Default VAT rate everywhere. The default is also charged before the shopper’s country is known.
Prices include VAT: product prices are shown VAT-inclusive, and the VAT part is broken out at checkout. Off adds VAT on top at checkout.
Exempt shipping from VAT: leaves the shipping charge out of the VAT total. Off charges VAT on shipping too.
Rounding increment: VAT totals round to this amount. Most countries use 0.01; some require 0.05.
In the country table, add a rate for each country. Countries not listed are not charged VAT. Apply to business charges that country’s rate to VAT-registered businesses too, instead of the business rate.
VAT numbers. To let business customers enter a VAT number, turn on the VAT registration number field in Settings › Checkout. Then set Rate for VAT-registered businesses in the VAT section. It is charged instead of the country rate to a business abroad that enters a number, unless its country is marked Apply to business; a business in your own country pays your usual VAT. Turn on Verify VAT numbers with Vatlayer and enter your Vatlayer API key for an extra check by Vatlayer. Reduced and zero rates, EU One-Stop Shop rates and the VIES and HMRC number checks are covered step by step in Set Up VAT or GST for Your Country.
Canada GST, PST and HST
A grid of provinces and customer roles
On the Canada GST/PST/HST card, turn on Canadian provincial tax. It charges GST, PST or HST by province on orders shipped to Canada. Turning it on ticks every province.
A grid then lists each province. Under Collect, tick the provinces you collect in, and enter the GST, PST and HST rates in percent. Rates are set per Customer role, so different customers can pay different rates. Ticks save straight away. Rate changes save with the tick button or Enter.
For Quebec, enter the QST (9.975%) in the PST column. Shoppers, emails and orders see it named QST, or TVQ in French, and it is charged on the price before GST.
If a province you collect in has changed its rate since you saved yours, the grid says so. Press Use today’s rates to update them; until then checkout charges the rates saved here.
Duty on international orders
A percentage on orders shipped abroad
The Duty card is for stores that charge a duty percentage on orders shipped to other countries. Turn on Charge duty on international orders, pick your Duty-exempt country (usually your own, where orders pay no duty) and set the Duty rate. It is charged on the taxable subtotal of orders that owe duty.
Automatic tax with TaxCloud, TaxJar or Avalara
Live rates by address instead of your own tables
In the US the right rate can depend on the street, and it changes. An automatic service works it out for each order. Open the Automated tax services card. It is a PRO and Premium feature.
TaxCloud: US sales tax by address. Enter your TaxCloud API ID and TaxCloud API key, plus the origin address you ship from. It becomes active as soon as both the ID and key are filled in. TaxCloud product codes go in the TaxCloud TIC field in the product’s Tax section.
TaxJar: US sales tax by address, with TaxJar product categories. Enter the TaxJar live token and your origin address. Turn on Sandbox mode to test with the TaxJar sandbox token, and turn it off before you sell. Verify US addresses with TaxJar needs a TaxJar Professional plan.
Avalara AvaTax: an extension that comes with Premium. Its row on this card says when AvaTax is calculating tax at checkout, and its settings are in the extension.
Only one service calculates tax at a time. Set Tax service in use to choose which. Automatic keeps the older order of TaxCloud when its keys are filled in, then TaxJar, then an extension such as Avalara AvaTax.
💡 Note: The Avalara AvaTax settings are covered in Avalara AvaTax.
Step 5. Mark your products taxable
Rates only apply to products that are taxable
A rate does nothing to a product that is not taxable. Open a product and go to its Tax section. It starts with What your store charges, then the switch for your country’s tax: Charge sales tax in the US, Charge GST / HST and PST in Canada, Charge VAT or Charge GST in VAT and GST countries. With VAT or GST on, VAT rate picks the standard, a reduced or the zero rate. Taxes your store does not charge are folded away below. The Summary column beside the editor says Taxable or Not taxable. When you create a product with Add product, the same choice is the Tax select: Not taxable, Sales tax, VAT, or Sales tax + VAT.
Showing prices with tax. With VAT on and Prices include VAT on, prices show VAT-inclusive. To show both figures, turn on Show prices both with and without VAT in Settings › Products. It needs VAT enabled, with prices entered inclusive of VAT, or both figures come out the same.
💡 Note: The Tax section on a product is covered in Pricing and Tax.
Step 6. Test it
Buy from your store and check the tax line
Test each place you charge, as a customer:
1. In a private window, add a taxable product to the cart and go to checkout.
2. Enter an address in a state you collect in. The tax line should match the rate you set.
3. Try an address in a state you do not collect in. There should be no tax.
4. Try each country, and a Canadian province if you use the grid.
5. If you use VAT, try a business VAT number and a normal customer.
Place the order with Pay by bank transfer ( the Bill later card in Settings › Payments ) or a gateway in test mode. Then open Orders and check the tax on the order. Finally, check EasyCart › Store Status. Its Taxes check fails when no tax or VAT is set up at all, which is right for some stores and a mistake for others.
When it goes wrong
Troubleshooting
Why tax is missing or wrong.
If it does not work
Why tax is missing, or wrong
No tax on an order. The product is not taxable, or the address is in a state or country with no rate row. A state with no row is not taxed.
The wrong tax on an order. Check the shipping address, not the billing address. Rates apply by shipping address. Also check whether Charge tax on shipping is on.
VAT is added on top when it should be included. Check Prices include VAT.
The business rate never applies. The VAT number field must be on in Settings › Checkout, and the Rate for VAT-registered businesses must be set. A business in your own country always pays your usual VAT. For a store in the EU, the number must belong to another EU country and check out in VIES ( a UK number with HMRC ); if the service does not answer, the business pays VAT. Check a number yourself with Check a VAT number in the VAT section.
An automatic service seems ignored. Only one service calculates tax. Check Tax service in use, and that its keys are filled in. For TaxJar, check Sandbox mode is off for live sales.
Still stuck? Open a ticket at wpeasycart.com/my-account.
Keep going
Related panels
Every option on the Taxes page.
Set up Avalara AvaTax.
Tax settings on a product.
The Summary column, which shows whether a product is taxable.
The VAT registration number field.
Countries and regions you sell to.
Ready to run your store on WP EasyCart?
Everything in this guide works with the free plugin. PRO and Premium add subscriptions, memberships, wholesale pricing and more. Try every PRO feature free for 14 days.
