// Free tool
Cross-border VAT calculator for B2B e-commerce
Which VAT rate applies when you sell from one country to another — and when does reverse charge, One-Stop-Shop or a zero-rated export apply instead? Pick the countries, say who is buying, and the calculator explains the rule as well as the number.
Indicative only. VAT rates and thresholds change, and your situation may involve exemptions, special schemes or reduced rates we cannot see. This tool is an engineering aid, not tax advice — confirm with your tax advisor before invoicing.
// The rules
Four rules decide almost every cross-border sale
Where you are established, where the customer receives the goods, and whether they are a business with a valid VAT ID. Almost every EU B2B tax outcome falls out of those three answers.
Domestic supply
Seller and customer in the same country: your own national VAT rate applies, to businesses and consumers alike.
Intra-EU B2B — reverse charge
Different EU countries, customer is a business with a valid VAT ID: you invoice 0% and they account for the VAT. Validate the ID and store the proof.
Intra-EU B2C — One-Stop-Shop
Selling to consumers in another EU country above the EU-wide threshold: charge the destination country's rate and declare it through OSS.
Export outside the EU
Goods leaving the EU are generally zero-rated — but only if you can prove the export. No shipping evidence, no zero rate.
// In your shop
How this gets implemented in Shopware
One system owns the tax
The shop or the ERP — never both. Two systems calculating tax independently will drift apart, and you will discover it in an audit rather than in a test.
Validate the VAT ID, store the proof
Reverse charge only applies with a valid VAT ID at the time of sale. Validate against VIES and store the timestamped result with the order — that stored proof is your entire defence two years later.
Rounding is a legal question
Rounding per line item versus per invoice total gives different results, and your shop and ERP must agree on which. One cent across 10,000 invoices is not a rounding error to a tax office — it is a discrepancy.
// FAQ
Cross-border VAT questions
If the French customer gives you a valid VAT ID that you verify against VIES, this is an intra-EU B2B supply: you invoice 0% and the customer accounts for the VAT themselves. This is the reverse-charge mechanism, and your invoice must say so.
Then you cannot apply reverse charge. Treat the sale like a supply to a consumer: destination-country VAT under the One-Stop-Shop rules once you exceed the EU-wide distance-selling threshold. Validating the VAT ID at the time of sale — and storing the result — is what protects you in an audit.
Goods exported outside the EU are generally zero-rated, provided you can prove the export with shipping documents. The customer usually pays import VAT and duty in their own country. Keep the export evidence — without it, the tax office may treat the sale as domestic and charge you the VAT.
Yes. In Shopware 6 you can drive tax from customer group, VAT ID validation and shipping destination, or hand the whole cart to an external tax provider endpoint that returns the tax per line item. The important rule is that one system owns the tax and the shop only displays it — two systems calculating tax independently will drift apart.
Want your shop to calculate this automatically?
We implement VAT logic in Shopware that your accountant and your tax office both agree with.