- Short answer
- On orders over £135 to Great Britain, Shopify bases VAT on the fulfillment location, so an order assigned to one non-UK location gets no checkout VAT.
- Doesn't count
- Your store address, or an inactive UK location; one missing an item might not get the order
- Fixed at
- Checkout: reassigning the location later doesn't recalculate VAT
- Testing
- Place a test order through checkout; a draft order can show different VAT
What decides VAT on a GB order over £135?
For orders over £135 to Great Britain, Shopify bases VAT on the fulfillment location the order is assigned to, not the store address in your General settings.
If an order to Great Britain is assigned to one location outside the United Kingdom, then VAT only applies to orders of £135 GBP or less. Orders over £135 GBP won't have VAT charged, even if you have an active UK location.
For consignments valued above £135, GOV.UK says normal VAT and customs rules apply on import into Great Britain from outside the UK. Whether you must register at all is a separate question.
Why your UK location didn't count
- The UK location is inactive.
- The UK location lacks an item, so order routing might assign the order outside the UK.
Start by checking that the UK location shows Active.
- Settings
- Locations
The location used for VAT is set at checkout, so changing it after the order is created doesn't recalculate VAT.
How do you charge VAT on GB orders over £135?
Shopify lists two options:
- Order assigned to an active UK location
- Every item stocked there
- VAT applies at any order value
- Customer pays an estimate at checkout; ship with a DDP label
- Based on the location the order ships from
- Not compatible with tax overrides or manual rates
- Charges duties too: you can't collect only the taxes
The duties-at-checkout setup walks through the second option.
- Settings
- Taxes and duties
Test GB orders over £135 through your checkout: a draft order might have no fulfillment location when tax is calculated, so its VAT can differ.
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