The VAT registration card lets you add your VAT (or equivalent tax-registration) number so it appears on your merchant rollup invoices. EU numbers are validated against the EU's VIES service and can qualify for B2B reverse-charge zero-rating on cross-border orders shipped from our German facility.
You'll find it in Settings → Financial.
Who needs to set it
- VAT-registered EU businesses producing prints through the platform.
- Non-EU businesses that want their tax-registration number printed on rollup invoices.
If you're not VAT/tax registered, leave this blank.
How to set it
- Open Settings → Financial → VAT registration.
- Choose your region with the toggle: EU (with VIES validation) or Non-EU.
- Enter your details:
- EU — pick your country from the dropdown of the 27 EU member states, then enter the number without the country prefix (e.g.
123456789, notDE123456789). - Non-EU — type your 2-letter country code, then your VAT / tax ID. - Save: - EU — the button reads Validate & save (or Re-validate if a number is already saved). It checks the number against VIES. - Non-EU — the button reads Save. The number is self-declared and isn't independently validated.
The country prefix is added automatically for display, so the saved number shows as, for example, DE123456789.
Status after saving
The saved row shows one of:
- Validated — VIES confirmed the EU number.
- Self-declared — a non-EU number; recorded as entered, not independently validated.
- Invalid — VIES says the number isn't valid. Re-check the country and digits, then re-validate.
- VIES unavailable — retry later — VIES couldn't be reached. The number is saved as pending and re-checked automatically on the weekly cron; you can also re-validate manually.
- Pending — being checked.
Only EU numbers are validated against VIES. Non-EU numbers are self-declared.
Updating or removing
- Update — change the value and save again. For EU numbers this re-validates.
- Remove — click Remove on the saved row and confirm. The prompt warns: future rollup invoices will be charged VAT.
When zero-rating applies
Reverse-charge zero-rating is narrow. It applies only when:
- goods ship from our German facility, and
- the destination country matches your VAT number's country (a textbook intra-community supply).
Other cross-border EU orders — shipped to a different country — fall back to 19% German VAT. The applicable rule is shown on each invoice.
Note: the UK is not an EU member, so it isn't in the EU country list. UK→EU is now an export, so a UK VAT number doesn't change what you're charged.
Merchant VAT vs customer VAT
These are separate:
- Merchant VAT (this card) — for invoices from theprintspace to you (the merchant). Affects your cost-side VAT.
- Customer VAT — handled by your Shopify store config; affects what you charge end customers.