Set up Irish taxes in your Shopify store

In this article, we will discuss:

• Tax settings
  • Display product prices including VAT
  • Display product prices excluding VAT
• Tax rates in Ireland and the EU
  • Selling goods to customers in Ireland
    • My business is not VAT registered
    • My business is VAT registered
  • Selling goods to customers in other EU Member States
    • Selling as a micro-business
    • Surpassing the micro-business threshold
    • Selling with a country-specific registration
  • Selling digital goods
  • Selling to Northern Ireland and Great Britain
  • Selling goods outside the EU
  • Where to find further information
• Invoices

As an Ireland-based store, you can choose how VAT is displayed in your product prices, depending on whether you sell mainly to consumers or to businesses.

Shopify gives you two configurations to pick from.

If you are selling predominantly to consumers (B2C), you may prefer to display product prices as including VAT.

To display your product prices with VAT included:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Taxes and duties.
2. In the Additional configuration section, turn on Include sales tax in product price and shipping rate.
3. Click Save to apply the changes.

You can also enable dynamic tax inclusion, a Shopify feature that automatically includes or excludes VAT based on the customer's region and adjusts the tax rate accordingly, so you don't need to manage this manually for every market.

Tax display is set for each market. To activate dynamic tax inclusion:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Markets and click the market you want to configure.
2. In the Inherited section, click the + icon next to Taxes and duties.
3. Under Tax display, select Dynamic tax display, then click Done.
4. Click Save to apply the changes.

If most of your customers are businesses (B2B), displaying prices excluding VAT is the more common approach, since B2B buyers typically expect to see net prices before tax.

To display your product prices excluding VAT:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Taxes and duties.
2. In the Additional configuration section, turn off Include sales tax in product price and shipping rate.
3. Click Save to apply the changes.

You can also disable dynamic tax inclusion if you'd rather keep prices consistently VAT-excluded across all markets:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Markets and click the market you want to configure.
2. In the Inherited section, click the + icon next to Taxes and duties.
3. Under Tax display, select Show as line item, then click Done.
4. Click Save to apply the changes.

As of 2026, the standard VAT rate in Ireland is 23%. Ireland also applies reduced rates to specific goods and services:

• 13.5%: for example, certain fuels, building services, and hotel and short-stay accommodation.
• 9%: for example, gas and electricity, sporting facilities, and, since July 1, 2026, restaurant and catering food and hairdressing services.
• 4.8%: livestock.
• 0%: for example, most food, children's clothing, books and e-books, and oral medicines.

If you’re VAT-registered, you charge Irish VAT on all sales of goods to customers in Ireland, whether they’re businesses (B2B) or consumers (B2C).

If your business isn't VAT registered, you don't charge VAT, and you can't include VAT on your invoices until you register.

Most businesses start out unregistered. You must register for VAT once your annual turnover exceeds €85,000 for goods or €42,500 for services in the current or previous calendar year.

You can also register voluntarily before reaching these thresholds.

For sales to customers outside Ireland, the rules depend on where your customer is located. They’re covered in the sections below.

When selling goods B2B to other EU Member States, these sales are zero-rated: you still show VAT on your invoices, but at 0%.

Under the reverse-charge mechanism, the customer accounts for the VAT themselves.

When selling goods B2C to other EU Member States, you do charge VAT, but the rate depends on whether your sales breach the micro-business threshold.

If your cross-border B2C sales to other EU countries (distance sales of goods plus telecommunications, broadcasting and electronic services) stay at or below €10,000, excluding VAT, in both the current and the previous calendar year, you can charge Irish VAT on those sales.

This applies automatically; you don't need to apply for it. You can also choose to charge the customer's country rate from the first euro, but that choice binds you for two calendar years.

This rule only applies if your business is established only in Ireland and your goods are shipped from Ireland.

To set VAT rates for the micro-business exemption scheme and charge your home country's VAT rate on all orders:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Taxes and duties.
2. In the Tax regions section, click European Union.
3. In the Collect VAT cross-border section, click Collect VAT.
4. In the Collect across the EU window, select Collect using your home country registration.
5. Select your Country of registration and enter your VAT number. Leave this field blank if you've applied for a VAT number but don't have one yet; you can add it later.
6. Click Collect VAT to save your changes.

Once your combined sales to other EU member states exceed €10,000 (excluding VAT) in the current or the previous calendar year, you must charge the VAT rate of the country you’re shipping to.

This applies if you charge VAT on your sales. If you use the cross-border SME scheme described in the Caution box at the start of this article, you stay exempt in other EU countries where you’re under the national threshold, even above €10,000, as long as your total EU turnover stays at or below €100,000.

In practice, this means customers in different EU countries will be charged different VAT rates, ranging from 17% to 27%.

Registering for VAT separately in every EU country you sell to can quickly become time-consuming. The One-Stop Shop (OSS) Union scheme solves this: you still charge VAT at the rate of the customer's country, but you only need to file one OSS VAT return covering all your EU sales.

In Shopify, add your OSS registration so the destination country's rate is applied automatically to your EU orders.

To set VAT rates for the OSS scheme and charge your customers' shipping-country VAT rate on all orders:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Taxes and duties.
2. In the Tax regions section, click European Union.
3. In the Collect VAT cross-border section, click Collect VAT.
4. In the Collect across the EU window, select Collect using a One-Stop Shop (OSS) registration.
5. Select your Country of OSS registration and enter your VAT number. Leave this field blank if you've applied for a VAT number but don't have one yet; you can add it later.
6. Click Collect VAT to save your changes.

You need a local VAT registration in another EU country if you make taxable sales there that OSS doesn't cover. The most common case is storing stock in that country (for example, in a third-party fulfillment warehouse) and shipping to customers from there.

For example, if your business is based in Ireland but you keep stock in a German warehouse, sales shipped from Germany to German customers are domestic German sales: you register for VAT in Germany and charge German VAT at 19%.

Holding stock outside Ireland also means you can no longer use the €10,000 micro-business threshold. Your B2C sales to other EU countries are charged at the customer's country rate from the first euro, which you can report through OSS.

To add a local VAT registration number:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Taxes and duties.
2. In the Tax regions section, click European Union.
3. In the Collect VAT in an EU country section, click Collect in another location if you already have a registration.
4. Select the Country and enter your VAT number. Leave this field blank if you've applied for a VAT number but don't have one yet. You can update it later.
5. Click Collect VAT to save your changes.

The country must be part of one of your shipping zones before you can add it as a tax region. If you can’t select it, create a shipping zone first:

1. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Shipping and delivery.
2. In the Shipping profiles section, click the profile you want to add the zone to (for example, General profile).
3. In the Shipping zones section, click + Zone.
4. Name the zone, add the country (or countries) you’re VAT-registered in using the search bar, and click Done.
5. Add shipping rates to make the zone available.
6. Click Save to apply the changes.

When selling digital goods (such as e-books, downloadable music, stock photos, or online courses) to consumers in other EU countries, you charge Irish VAT while you’re below the €10,000 threshold and the rate of the customer’s country once you’re above it.

These sales count toward the same €10,000 EU-wide threshold used for physical goods; this is a combined threshold covering both intra-EU distance sales of goods and digital (TBE) services together.

Once you're above the threshold, you can report this VAT through the same Union OSS scheme that you use for physical goods.

To charge VAT on digital goods sold to EU customers, go to Settings → Taxes and duties and, in the Additional configuration section, turn on Charge VAT on digital goods, then click Save.

Northern Ireland follows EU VAT rules for goods. B2C sales of goods to Northern Ireland count toward the €10,000 EU threshold. Above it, you charge UK VAT and report it through OSS.

Sales to Great Britain are zero-rated for Irish VAT. For consignments of £135 or less, you must register for UK VAT and charge it to consumers.

Business customers with a UK VAT number account for the VAT themselves. Above £135, the customer usually pays import VAT and duties.

If you're selling goods from Ireland outside the EU, whether B2B or B2C, these sales are zero-rated for VAT. This means you don't charge VAT on your invoices.

For personalized advice based on your specific business situation, consider consulting a tax professional or accountant who specializes in VAT and ecommerce.

Once your tax rates are set up correctly, Sufio automatically generates valid invoices with an accurate VAT breakdown for every order.

Invoices can be created in multiple languages and include all the necessary details to make them compliant with invoicing legislation in the EU.

Issuing invoices with the correct tax breakdown is crucial for your bookkeeping and tax purposes.

For B2B sales, Sufio invoices automatically include all required information, along with the VAT registration number of both your store and your business customers.