Charge the right VAT or sales tax for each country you sell to
If you sell to customers in more than one country, you can set a separate tax rate for each destination. The rate a customer is charged comes from their shipping address, not from where your store is based.
You can also tell LaunchMyStore that the prices you have entered already include tax. This matters: when you sell to consumers in the EU or the UK, the price you advertise has to be the price they actually pay.
Open the tax settings
Go to Settings → Tax in your admin, and turn Sales Tax on.
This screen appears for stores outside the GST countries and outside the United States and Canada. If your store is in one of those, see Configure taxes for domestic and international stores instead.
Step 1: choose how your prices are shown
Under Price display, pick one:
- Tax is added at checkout — your prices are entered before tax, and the customer's total goes up by the tax amount.
- Prices already include tax — the price you show is the price the customer pays. The tax is shown as a portion of that price rather than added to it.
A worked example appears under the options so you can see the effect before you commit to it. At 20%, a 100.00 product either becomes 120.00 at checkout (tax added) or stays 100.00 with 16.67 of it being tax (tax included).
If your store is already trading, changing this changes your order totals. Read the example carefully before you switch.
Step 2: add your rates
Under Rates by destination you have two options.
Load a ready-made set
Pick a rate set and click Load rates:
- EU VAT — the standard rate for all 27 member states
- UK VAT
- Switzerland MWST
- Norway MVA
These are standard rates, provided as a starting point. Check them against your own tax advice before you sell — rates change with national budgets, and reduced rates for things like books, food and medicine are not included.
Loading a set is safe to repeat. Any country you already have a rate for is skipped, so nothing is duplicated and your own edits are never overwritten.
Add a country by hand
Click Add rate, choose the country, and enter the percentage. Use the pencil and bin icons on any row to edit or remove it later.
Step 3 (optional): name the tax in your own words
Each rate has a Label at checkout field. Leave it empty and LaunchMyStore shows the tax in your customer's own language — “VAT”, “TVA”, “MwSt.”, “IVA” and so on, with the rate next to it.
If you need specific wording, type it in and put {rate} where the percentage should appear:
incl. VAT {rate}shows as incl. VAT 20%inkl. MwSt. {rate}shows as inkl. MwSt. 19%
Because the percentage is filled in from the rate, your wording can never drift out of step with what you actually charge. Labels are per country, so you can word your German and French rates differently.
Which rate a customer gets
LaunchMyStore looks at the customer's shipping address and picks the most specific match:
- a rate for their exact country and region, if you have one
- a rate for their country
- your All other countries rate, if you have set one
- otherwise, no tax
If you do not add an All other countries rate, customers in countries you have not listed are charged no tax. That is usually what you want for exports — but if it is not, add that rate from the Add rate dialog by choosing All other countries as the country.
Where your customers see it
The tax appears as its own line in the order summary at checkout, and on the order confirmation and order record afterwards. When your prices include tax, the line shows how much of the total is tax and the total itself does not change.
Frequently asked questions
Does LaunchMyStore file my VAT return?
No. LaunchMyStore calculates and records the tax on each order so you have the figures. Registering, filing and paying remain yours to do, and you should take your own tax advice on where you are required to register.
What about reduced rates for books, food or children's clothing?
Rates are set per country, so a single rate applies to your whole catalogue in that country. If everything you sell falls under a reduced rate, edit the country's rate to match. Different rates for different products in the same country are not supported yet.
Can I exempt VAT-registered business customers?
Not automatically. B2B reverse charge, where a VAT-registered buyer in another EU country is not charged VAT, is not available yet.
I changed a rate — do past orders change?
No. Every order keeps the tax that was calculated when it was placed. Changes only affect new orders.
My customer cannot find their country at checkout
The countries a customer can choose come from your shipping zones. Add a zone covering that country and it becomes selectable.