How to Handle Taxes in UniLink (Set Up VAT, Sales Tax, and Tax-Inclusive Pricing)

Configure tax rates by country or region, decide whether prices include tax or not, and generate a report for your accountant — all from one settings panel.

Tax compliance is one of the most misunderstood aspects of running an online store. A simple pricing mistake — like forgetting to add VAT to prices shown to EU customers — can mean your actual margin is lower than you calculated, or worse, that you owe tax authorities money you never collected. UniLink's tax settings are designed to make this straightforward: you define the rates that apply to your business, and UniLink handles the math at checkout for every order.

What Tax Settings Do

The tax module in UniLink gives you control over how tax is calculated, displayed, and reported across all orders in your storefront. At its core, it lets you tell the platform which tax rates apply to which geographic regions, and whether those rates should be added to your advertised prices or are already built into them. This distinction — tax-exclusive versus tax-inclusive pricing — is the single most important decision in your tax configuration, and it varies by market convention.

In North America, consumer prices are typically displayed before tax, with the applicable sales tax added at checkout. In Europe and most other markets that use VAT, prices are almost always displayed with tax already included — customers expect to see the final price without any surprise additions at the end. UniLink supports both models. When you set tax-inclusive pricing, the rate you configure is used to back-calculate the tax component from your listed price for reporting purposes. When you use tax-exclusive pricing, UniLink adds the applicable rate on top of the cart total before the customer pays.

For digital product sellers serving European Union customers, UniLink also supports EU VAT rules. Under these rules, digital goods sold to EU consumers are taxed at the VAT rate of the buyer's country, not the seller's. UniLink can apply the correct country-level rate automatically when the customer enters their address, using the standard EU VAT rates that are built into the platform and updated when rates change.

How to Get Started With Tax Settings

1. Open tax settings — Navigate to Storefront → Settings → Taxes in your UniLink dashboard. This page centralises all tax configuration for your storefront.
2. Choose your pricing model — At the top of the page, select either "Prices include tax" (tax-inclusive) or "Prices do not include tax" (tax-exclusive). This setting applies globally to all products in your store, so choose carefully based on the norms in your primary market.
3. Add your first tax rate — Click "Add Tax Rate". Enter a name (for example "US Sales Tax" or "UK VAT"), select the country it applies to, and enter the percentage rate. For countries with regional variation (like the US, Canada, or Australia), you can also specify a state or province.
4. Enable automatic tax calculation — Toggle "Auto-calculate tax based on customer location". When enabled, UniLink matches the customer's shipping or billing address to your configured tax rules and applies the correct rate automatically. Customers in regions with no matching tax rule see no tax charge.
5. Configure EU digital VAT (if applicable) — If you sell digital products to EU customers, scroll to the "Digital Goods" section and enable "Apply EU VAT by customer country". UniLink will apply the correct VAT rate for each EU member state automatically using the built-in rate table.
6. Set tax display on checkout — Choose whether to show the tax amount as a separate line item at checkout, or to show it only in the order summary. Showing tax separately is generally required in B2B contexts; showing a single total is common for B2C consumer stores.
7. Save and test — Place a test order using an address in a taxed region and confirm the tax amount calculated matches your expectations. Adjust rates or the pricing model if needed.

How to Use Tax Settings

1. Review tax on each order — Open any order in Storefront → Orders. The order summary shows the net amount, tax amount, and total separately. This breakdown is the same information that appears on the customer's receipt.
2. Override tax for specific products — Some products may be zero-rated or exempt. Open the product editor, scroll to "Tax", and either apply a different tax class or mark the product as tax-exempt. Common examples include children's clothing, books, and prescription items depending on jurisdiction.
3. Export a tax report — Go to Storefront → Reports → Taxes. Select a date range, choose the output currency, and click "Export CSV". The report lists each order with net revenue, tax collected, and the tax rate applied — the format most accountants and tax-filing software expect.
4. Update a tax rate — If a government changes a VAT or sales tax rate, return to Storefront → Settings → Taxes, find the affected rate, and update the percentage. The new rate applies to all orders placed from that point forward; historical orders retain their original rate.
5. Add a new region — As you expand into new markets, return to Taxes and add a rate for each new country or state. Without a matching rate, customers in that region will not be charged tax — which may be correct for some jurisdictions but is worth verifying with your tax advisor.
6. Handle tax on shipping — Some jurisdictions require tax to be charged on shipping fees as well as product prices. In the tax settings, toggle "Apply tax to shipping charges" to include shipping in the taxable amount for all orders.
7. Reconcile with your payment provider — Cross-reference your UniLink tax report with your Stripe or PayPal transaction history quarterly to ensure total collected taxes match your records before filing.

Key Settings Explained

How to Get the Most Out of Tax Settings

Tax configuration is one area where the cost of getting it wrong compounds over time. Undercollecting tax means you may owe authorities money from revenue that has already been spent. Overcollecting adds friction at checkout and erodes trust. The best approach is to consult a tax professional or an accountant familiar with e-commerce before you configure your rates, particularly if you sell across multiple countries. UniLink gives you the tools to implement whatever rates you are advised to use, but it does not constitute legal tax advice — your rates need to be correct for your specific products and markets.

For US sellers, sales tax is particularly complex because rates vary not only by state but by county and city within states. UniLink's manual rate entry works well if you nexus (have tax obligations) in only a handful of states. If you have nexus in many states due to physical presence, employees, or economic nexus thresholds, consider connecting a tax automation service like TaxJar or Avalara via the API integration, which can calculate exact rates for every US ZIP code automatically.

For EU sellers or any seller reaching EU customers, the EU VAT rules for digital goods changed significantly in 2021 with the introduction of the One Stop Shop (OSS) scheme. Under OSS, you can register in one EU country and file a single quarterly return covering all EU member state sales rather than registering in each country individually. Enable the EU digital VAT feature in UniLink and use the tax export report to populate your OSS filing.

Keep your tax reports archived. Tax authorities in most countries require records to be held for 5–10 years. UniLink's CSV exports provide an auditable transaction-level record that includes the tax amount on each order, which is typically sufficient for most tax authority audit requests. Export quarterly and store in a cloud backup alongside your business records.

Troubleshooting Common Issues