- Short answer
- Usually yes — an overseas seller registers regardless of turnover; HMRC's carve-outs are narrow and each needs every UK sale to fit it.
- £135 is per consignment
- It is the total value of one imported consignment, not the price of an item inside it.
- Great Britain, not the whole UK
- The checkout rule names England, Scotland and Wales; Northern Ireland is a separate case.
- £90,000 is the domestic threshold
- That turnover figure is for UK-based businesses; Shopify states it without naming the seller's location.
- Stock already in the UK
- Goods you own that already sit in the UK mean registering from the first direct sale.
- The reverse charge moves the tax, not the registration
- Only on direct sales at £135 or less, goods outside the UK, and only with the buyer's UK VAT number.
What the £135 line actually switches
The £135 figure is a switch, not an exemption. HMRC states that consignments of £135 or less that are outside the UK and sold directly — not through an online marketplace — to customers in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) have UK supply VAT charged at the point of sale, which means your checkout collects it. Above that line, normal VAT and customs rules apply on importation instead.
How you measure the £135 decides which rule you are in. HMRC applies the limit to the value of a total consignment that is imported, not the separate value of individual items inside it — so several items each well under the limit can still ship as a consignment above it.
Shopify describes the same split from the merchant's side: goods equal to or less than £135 require you to register for VAT in the UK, and for goods over £135 you might not be required to collect VAT at the point of sale — the checkout side of the same rule, not a second registration trigger. The settings live under Settings → Taxes and duties, where United Kingdom sits in the Regional settings section.
Why turnover does not get you out of registering
The £90,000 you have probably read about is a domestic threshold. GOV.UK tells businesses they must register if their total taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000, and that they can choose to register below it — voluntary registration.
A seller based abroad is on a different rule altogether. The same registration guidance says you must also register regardless of taxable turnover when you and your business are based outside the UK and you supply goods or services to it.
The two pages read differently rather than contradict each other. Shopify says sales to UK customers equal to or greater than £90,000 GBP within a 12-month period typically mean you need to register — a sentence that never names where the seller is, so take it as the domestic threshold and read your own case off the overseas rule.
Across HMRC's guidance on goods sold directly to customers, its online-marketplace guidance and the VAT registration pages, read on September 2, 2026, we found no small-value or turnover exemption that lets an overseas seller skip registration on direct sales into Great Britain.
While your VAT registration application is pending, Shopify says to leave the VAT number field blank and update it when you receive your number.
When someone else accounts for the VAT
Registration does not follow from every shape of sale. HMRC documents orders where the VAT is somebody else's to account for, and cases where a seller does not have to register at all. The table below sets out four of them: three turn on the buyer or the channel, one on supplying an entirely zero-rated range.
Where the VAT obligation moves
| Situation | Who accounts for the UK VAT | What it means for registering |
|---|---|---|
| Goods outside the UK, sold through an online marketplace | The marketplace | If all your UK sales go through a marketplace to consumers, you can register or apply for exemption |
| A UK business customer gives you their VAT number | The customer, by reverse charge | Nothing by itself — it only moves who accounts for that direct sale's VAT |
| You only sell to UK VAT-registered businesses, goods outside the UK at the point of sale | The customer | HMRC says you do not have to register |
| Everything you supply is zero-rated | Not applicable | You do not need to register and can apply for exemption |
GOV.UK — the direct-sales and online-marketplaces guidance and VAT Notice 700/1 §9.3 and §12.2, read September 3, 2026.
The second row is narrower than it looks: one business customer handing you their VAT number moves that order's VAT to them, not your duty to register. The third row is a registration carve-out that applies only when every sale goes to a UK VAT-registered business with the goods outside the UK at the point of sale. Whether your checkout can collect and validate a buyer's VAT number is a separate question with its own page.
If your stock already sits in a UK warehouse
The £135 line and the first three rows above assume the goods are outside the UK when the sale happens. Move them into a UK warehouse or third-party fulfilment centre and the £135 line stops deciding anything: for the direct sales the second and third rows cover, registration follows from the first one, at any value.
If you are an overseas seller who owns goods of any value that are located in the UK at the point of sale you must register and account for VAT on any sales you make directly to customers in Great Britain or Northern Ireland.
The mirror image holds for the same pallet sold through a marketplace. HMRC states that online marketplaces are also liable for the VAT on goods of any value located in the UK at the point of sale and sold by an overseas business — so one stock location gives two answers about who accounts for the VAT, depending on which channel took the order.
This article was written entirely by AI under human editorial direction. The editor sets the topic and structure, runs multi-stage validation on facts, links, and interactive elements, and verifies the output is useful from a business perspective. All claims are checked against official Shopify sources. Details may change — always confirm critical data at shopify.com.
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