- Short answer
- Only where Shopify is required to tax your account charges — and even there its help page says app charges might be included, not will.
- When it lands
- Subscription and usage charges join your regular Shopify bill; some apps charge you directly outside Shopify instead.
- Where you act on it
- Settings > Billing > Billing profile, before the next invoice — a self-serve exemption never reaches past invoices.
- Whether a number removes it
- None in Ireland, Switzerland, Singapore, Malaysia or South Africa; later invoices only in Australia, New Zealand, India.
When tax can appear on an app charge
Whether tax can appear on an app charge starts with your region. Shopify's help page states the condition, then hedges it:
If you live in a region where Shopify is required to charge taxes on any of your account charges, these charges appear in your Shopify invoice. This might include your app charges.
Read that last sentence as written — might, not will. Shopify names no list of regions or apps here, so the reliable check is the tax line on your own invoice. Tax on your subscription and Shopify Payments fees is a separate question, answered on our page about VAT and GST on Shopify's own fees.
How app-charge tax shows up on your Shopify invoice
Subscription app charges run on an independent 30-day billing cycle and are charged at the same time as your Shopify subscription; usage charges follow a 30-day cycle specific to each app. Recurring and usage app charges are generated at the start of the app's 30-day billing cycle and added to your next Shopify invoice, so their tax line sits on that invoice rather than on a separate document. Some third-party apps charge you directly outside of Shopify instead.
Tax details are set on the billing account itself: for stores located in Europe, Shopify requires you to either provide a VAT number or indicate that you do not have one, under Settings > Billing > Billing profile — stated for the Shopify bill as a whole, not for app lines specifically. Shopify's North America page names the self-serve countries, where you add a tax number yourself: Australia, New Zealand, Türkiye, India, Chile, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Tanzania.
What each regional billing-tax page says is taxed
Shopify keeps its billing-tax rules on seven regional pages, and they word what gets taxed in different ways. That wording is the closest thing to a regional answer for app lines, because subscription and usage app charges billed through Shopify sit on the same Shopify bill.
Billing tax by region, as Shopify's pages word it (read 3 October 2026)
| Region | Tax and rate on the page | What the page says is taxed | Tax number that can remove it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ireland | 23% VAT | “your relevant Shopify fees” | None — exemption not offered |
| Switzerland | 7.7% VAT | “your relevant Shopify fees” | None — exemption not offered |
| Other European stores | Not stated | Not stated | Give a VAT number or say you have none; its effect isn't stated |
| Türkiye | VAT, rate not stated | “your Shopify bill” | 10-digit Tax ID — bills might be exempt |
| Australia | 10% GST | “your Shopify subscription and any shipping labels” | GST registration plus ABN — later invoices only |
| New Zealand | 15% GST | “your Shopify bill” | GST registration plus IRD number — later invoices only |
| India | GST, rate not stated | “your Shopify fees” | GSTIN — later invoices only |
| Singapore, Malaysia | GST and SST, rates not stated | “your Shopify fees” | None — you can't provide a number |
| Thailand | 7% VAT | Exemption sentence: “your Shopify bill” | 13-digit Tax ID and VAT-taxpayer certification — might be exempt |
| Saudi Arabia, UAE | 15% VAT, 5% VAT | Exemption sentence: “your Shopify bill” | 15-digit Tax ID and certification — might be exempt |
| Egypt | 14% VAT | Exemption sentence: “your Shopify bill” | TRN and UIN — exempt |
| South Africa | 15% VAT | “your eligible Shopify billing charges” | None — a VAT number isn't used for exemption |
| Tanzania | 18% VAT | Exemption sentence: “your Shopify bill” | Tax ID and certification — might be exempt |
| Chile | 19% VAT | Exemption sentence: “your Shopify bill” | RUT — might be exempt |
| US and Canada | HST, PST, GST, state, county or municipal tax | “your subscription”, in Canada and listed US states | Proof of tax-exempt status (e.g. non-profit or government) via Shopify Support — up to 2 weeks |
| Manitoba (Canada) | 7% RST | “applicable Shopify charges”, from January 1, 2026 | Not stated |
Source: Shopify Help Center, seven regional billing-tax pages. Where a page names what is taxed only in its exemption sentence, the cell quotes that sentence and says so.
Where the wording covers your Shopify bill or your Shopify fees, subscription and usage app lines billed through Shopify sit inside it, yet the app-charge page still says only that they might be taxed. Australia's GST sentence names only the subscription and shipping labels.
A worked example: tax on one app line
Take an illustrative app subscription of 20.00 in your billing currency on the bill of a store in Ireland. If the 23% VAT reaches that line, the tax is 4.60 and the line costs 24.60; if it doesn't, the line stays at 20.00. Only the tax line on your invoice tells you which happened.
A VAT number won't buy an exemption here: Ireland is on Shopify's list of countries where merchants can't apply for exemption from VAT on their Shopify bills. In New Zealand the same line would be 23.00 if the 15% GST reaches it — and 20.00 for a GST-registered store that added its IRD number, and had it verified, before the invoice was issued, since the exemption covers the Shopify bill from then on.
What Shopify does not publish about app-charge tax
None of the seven regional billing-tax pages, re-read on 3 October 2026, names app charges at all; each speaks generally of Shopify fees, your Shopify subscription or your Shopify bill.
None of those regional pages, nor the app-charge page itself, splits tax by who built the app or by usage versus subscription charges.
Billing-tax mistakes to rule out
The other documented mistakes:
- An outdated billing address. Shopify's North America billing-tax page says taxes on your invoices follow your store's billing address, and a change applies to future invoices only.
- Expecting a resale exemption. On its North America page, Shopify says it can't exempt subscription fees on the basis of resale, because you use the service to run your business.
- A VAT number that isn't valid cross-border. European VAT numbers are checked through VIES and must be valid for cross-border transactions.
- Looking for an externally billed app on the invoice. Charges from apps that bill you directly outside Shopify aren't displayed on your Shopify bill, so that invoice can't show tax on them; check the app's billing settings or ask its developer.
This page was written by AI. Separate AI agents that did not write it check its figures and claims against official sources and test its links and interactive tools. A human editor sets the site's editorial direction, topics and rules and checks that pages are complete and display correctly, but does not check their facts or edit their text. Details may change — always confirm critical data at shopify.com.
Editorial Policy