Magento VAT Setup

[LinkBright Media]

I've approached a couple of Magento developers who both tell me this is not possible but thought I'd post on here to see if anyone has managed it.

We have fixed retail prices for our products. No matter where the customer is the retail price is always the same. If the customer is in the EU we have to show VAT on the invoice. If the customer is outside the EU we have to show zero rated VAT.

I've been told that the only way to do this in Magento is to have the configurations set so that 20% VAT is added to the retail price if the customer is in the EU and not add any VAT if they are outside the EU. The effect of this is varying retail prices depending on where the customer is. However our end retail prices must always be the same, for everyone. We didn't have any trouble setting this up with our last shopping cart software but it seems to be a sticking point with Magento so we've just left the VAT out of it. We then have to manually update all invoices imported into our bookkeeping system which is very time consuming.

Has anyone managed this setup?

 

[apricot]

Have you tried this extension?

magento commerce.com / magento-connect / eu-vat-grouper.html

 

[kulture]

I am amazed that the developers said it was not possible. Everything is possible. I doubt that you will find an already developed extension to do this and it is not common practice. Most retailers do not charge additional amounts to non EU customers. They also tend to encourage EU business customers by offering to sell net of VAT when a correct EU VAT number is provided.

In Magento you could do it by charging VAT as normal, then applying a promotion (negative discount) rule when the shipping address is outside the EU. You would also need to ensure that the invoice and e-mails simply add in this negative discount rather than display it seperately.

 

[a1anm]

I am amazed that the developers said it was not possible.

Couldn't agree more. Although there may not be an out of the box solution it should be something a developer could implement without too much trouble with some customised code.

 

[iboxsecurity]

Not entirely sure what your after exactly, however it can be said that VAT issues can be a little confusing to users and develoeprs - that said - anything is possible in Magento really with customizations in place.

And what your explaining certainly does sound possible.

 

[edmondscommerce]

I suspect this is simply a case of setting up an alternative store with a different pricing strategy and then making sure that EU purchases go through the EU store front.

 

[ManWithBagOverHisHead]

I suspect this is simply a case of setting up an alternative store with a different pricing strategy and then making sure that EU purchases go through the EU store front.

Wouldn't that involve updating 2 stores data, patching them for security updates, etc?

Surely it is a better option to have one store that can handle the vat as desired?

 

[edmondscommerce]

No, we are talking about Magento - multiple store fronts is actually pretty trivial to set up from one Magento install and managing data for the multiple stores is easy and intuitive

 

[AndyP]

Yes, as edmondscommerce says, this is quite commonplace in Magento. We do this with one of our stores. In fairness I doubt that I could do it myself and its a developer job but as for data management its all in one hit, so to speak.

 

[LinkBright Media]

I suspect this is simply a case of setting up an alternative store with a different pricing strategy and then making sure that EU purchases go through the EU store front.

Yeah that's waaaaay too complex a solution, sorry to disagree. We already have x amount of storefronts and language options. Adding x amount of variations for all those storefronts, just to show VAT on invoices is like hitting a nut with a sledgehammer to open it

I like the idea of running cart scripts on checkout but then the non-EU customer sees higher prices to start off with don't they??

 

[edmondscommerce]

As a developer I much prefer to leave core Magento functionality, especially anything to do with checkout etc, as well alone as possible.

If you are familiar with Chaos theory (or you have seen Jurassic Park) then you have no doubt heard of the butterfly flaps his wings analogy..

Small changes can have large and possibly unpleasant impact