Description
Keystep EU VAT Suite makes your WooCommerce store charge the correct EU VAT on every order, automatically.
- Correct destination VAT for B2C customers across all 27 EU member states, based on the customer’s billing country.
- B2B reverse-charge — EU business VAT numbers are validated against the official VIES service and zero-rated when valid.
- Resilient at checkout — if the VIES service is slow or unavailable, checkout still completes: the order is charged standard VAT and flagged for your review, so a sale is never lost and an unverified number is never silently zero-rated.
- Block and classic checkout — the VAT-number field is registered through WooCommerce’s Additional Checkout Fields API, so it appears in both.
- HPOS-compatible — works with WooCommerce High-Performance Order Storage.
- Coexists with your tax setup — it adds the EU standard rates that are missing and never overwrites rates you have already configured. Reduced-rate products use WooCommerce’s own Reduced-rate tax class, which you configure.
This plugin is a calculation and compliance tool. You remain responsible for your own VAT registration and filings.
Pro add-on
OSS return reporting, the EUR 10,000 distance-selling threshold tracker, and audit CSV export are available in a separate Keystep EU VAT Suite Pro add-on, distributed from https://shasan7774.github.io/eu-vat-suite/ and not hosted on WordPress.org. The free plugin above is fully functional on its own.
External services
To apply B2B reverse-charge correctly, this plugin validates EU business VAT numbers against VIES (the VAT Information Exchange System), an official service operated by the European Commission.
- When it is called: only when a customer enters a VAT number at checkout. Results are cached to minimise repeat calls, and the service is never contacted for consumer (B2C) orders.
- What is sent: the VAT number the customer enters, together with its two-letter country code. No name, address, order contents, or other personal data is transmitted.
- Why: to confirm the VAT number is genuine so a valid EU business can be correctly zero-rated under the reverse-charge rules.
- Provider: European Commission — VIES. Service, terms and legal/disclaimer information: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/
The plugin contacts no other third-party services.
Screenshots
Installation
- Upload the plugin to
wp-content/plugins/(or install via the Plugins screen) and activate it. WooCommerce must be active. - In WooCommerce > Settings > General, make sure “Enable tax rates and calculations” is on. The plugin will prompt you if it is off.
- The plugin imports the current EU standard VAT rates into your WooCommerce tax tables on activation. You can re-import any time from WooCommerce > Settings > Tax > Keystep EU VAT Suite.
- Done — correct EU VAT is applied at checkout.
FAQ
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What happens if VIES is down during checkout?
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Checkout still completes. Rather than breaking the page or wrongly zero-rating an unverified business, the plugin charges standard VAT and flags the order for your review, so you never lose a sale and never under-collect.
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Does it support the block-based checkout?
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Yes. The VAT-number field is registered through WooCommerce’s Additional Checkout Fields API, so it appears in both the block checkout and the classic checkout.
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What about reduced-rate products (books, food, etc.)?
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The plugin manages the EU standard rates automatically. For reduced-rate items, assign them to WooCommerce’s built-in “Reduced rate” tax class and set the rate there — the plugin never touches rates you’ve configured yourself.
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Does it change my store settings automatically?
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No. It imports EU VAT rates (which is its job), but it never silently changes your currency, country, or tax status. If tax calculation is off, it shows a notice asking you to enable it — your choice.
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When do I need OSS and the EUR 10,000 threshold?
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If your total cross-border B2C sales to other EU countries stay under EUR 10,000 per year, you may charge your home country’s VAT rate. Once you pass EUR 10,000 — counted across all EU countries combined, not per country — you must charge each customer’s destination VAT rate and report it through the EU One-Stop-Shop (OSS) return. This free plugin applies the correct destination rates automatically. The separate Keystep EU VAT Suite Pro add-on adds a threshold tracker and a ready-made OSS report so you can see when you cross the line and file.
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Is this tax advice?
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No. Keystep EU VAT Suite is a calculation and compliance tool. You remain responsible for your own VAT registration and filings.
Reviews
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Contributors & Developers
“Keystep EU VAT Suite for WooCommerce” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Contributors
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Changelog
0.1.0
- Initial release: destination VAT rates, resilient VIES validation, B2B reverse-charge, block + classic checkout field, and settings.