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VAT & GST support

Configure VAT and GST tax collection in Recurly, set up tax registration numbers, and enable country-specific tax rates from your Business Entities settings.

Value Added Tax (VAT) and Goods and Services Tax (GST) are consumption taxes you may need to collect from customers based on where they're located. Recurly applies the correct default rate for each country you enable, displays your registration numbers on invoices, and updates automatically as line items are taxed. Set everything up once in your Business Entities configuration and let Recurly handle the rest.
Available on all Recurly plans

Prerequisites

  • Access to the Business Entities configuration in your Recurly account
  • Familiarity with the tax regulations of the countries you operate in

Limitations

  • Tax rates are based on current regulations and may change. Always stay up to date with your local tax authorities.
  • Recurly applies a default tax rate for each country. Custom rates need manual configuration.

Definition

VAT (Value Added Tax) and GST (Goods and Services Tax) are consumption taxes applied to the value added to goods and services. These taxes are levied at each stage of the production or distribution process, and the end consumer typically bears the final tax cost.

Key benefits

Country-aware rates Enable a country and Recurly applies its default VAT or GST rate to all taxable line items automatically.
Registration numbers on every invoice Display your VAT and Tax Registration Numbers on invoices, with country-specific numbers where you're registered in more than one place.
Province and state control Layer in sub-region taxes like Canadian PST, HST, and QST, or collect GST alone across all provinces.

Tax registration numbers

Set up default VAT and Tax Registration Numbers in the Business Entities configuration to display on all your invoices. While these settings cover your merchant business, separate fields are available to record your customers' Tax Registration Numbers on their account records.

Country-specific tax registration numbers

For businesses registered in multiple countries, you can configure unique VAT Numbers and Tax Registration Numbers for specific customer invoices. For instance, if you're registered in Turkey, you can display both your Turkish VAT number and Tax Registration Number on invoices for Turkish customers. Access this feature via the Advanced Settings link, or navigate to Configuration → Taxes → Tax Settings.

Country-specific tax details

Australia

Enabling tax collection in Australia applies 10% GST to all taxable plan, add-on, or adjustment line items for customers in Australia.

Tax regionTax typeMinimum address requirement
AUGSTCountry

AU GST on digital services

On July 1, 2017, Australia began requiring non-resident businesses with digital services sales in Australia past a specific threshold to register and collect GST from Australian customers. This change includes an exemption for Australian businesses with an active, GST-registered ABN, and the collection of two pieces of location evidence from customers that are taxed.

Canada

Enabling tax collection in Canada applies 5% GST to all taxable plan, add-on, or adjustment line items for customers in Canada. Additional province-level taxes (PST, HST, or QST) apply if you enable the province as a taxable sub-region and the customer is located in that province. If you want to collect only GST from all provinces in Canada, enable Canada but don't select a province.

Tax regionTax typeMinimum address requirement
CAGST
GST/PST
GST/HST
GST/QST
Postal code and country
Before you go live in CanadaBefore enabling Canadian tax collection in production, open a support ticket with [email protected] so our team can configure your Avalara establishment and add your tax registration number on the backend. Your Canadian taxes won't calculate correctly until this is complete.

Chile

Enabling tax collection in Chile applies 19% VAT to all taxable plan, add-on, or adjustment line items for customers in Chile.

CountryTax rateMinimum address requirement
Chile19%Country

Europe (non-EU)

Enabling tax collection in a non-EU European country applies that country's VAT rate to all taxable plan, add-on, or adjustment line items for customers in the country. All countries have a tax type of VAT and a minimum address requirement of Country.

European Union

The European Union VAT system has many rules and requirements, so we've created a separate page dedicated to EU VAT. Read the full details in our European Union VAT support.

Mexico

Enabling tax collection in Mexico applies 16% VAT to all taxable plan, add-on, or adjustment line items for customers in Mexico.

Tax regionTax typeMinimum address requirement
MXVATCountry

Indonesia

Enabling tax collection in Indonesia applies 10% VAT to all taxable plan, add-on, or adjustment line items for customers in Indonesia.

Tax regionTax typeMinimum address requirement
IDVATCountry

Israel

Enabling tax collection in Israel applies 17% VAT to all taxable plan, add-on, or adjustment line items for customers in Israel.

Tax regionTax typeMinimum address requirement
ILVATCountry

New Zealand

Enabling tax collection in New Zealand applies 15% GST to all taxable plan, add-on, or adjustment line items for customers in New Zealand.

Tax regionTax typeMinimum address requirement
NZGSTCountry

South Africa

Enabling tax collection in South Africa applies 15% VAT to all taxable plan, add-on, or adjustment line items for customers in South Africa.

Tax regionTax typeMinimum address requirement
ZAVATCountry

Thailand

Enabling tax collection in Thailand applies 7% VAT to all taxable plan, add-on, or adjustment line items for customers in Thailand.

Tax regionTax typeMinimum address requirement
THVATCountry
NoteThe source draft notes a scheduled VAT increase to 10% on September 30, 2019. Verify Thailand's current VAT rate before publishing. [TODO: Confirm current Thailand VAT rate.]

United Kingdom

Enabling tax collection in the United Kingdom applies 20% VAT to all taxable plan, add-on, or adjustment line items for customers in the United Kingdom.

Tax regionTax typeMinimum address requirement
GBVATCountry

Setting up VAT & GST in Recurly

Access the Business Entities configuration

1

Log in to Recurly

Log in to your Recurly account and go to the main dashboard.

2

Open Business Entities

In the left sidebar, select Configuration, then choose Business Entities from the dropdown.

Set up default tax registration numbers

1

Find the Tax Registration Numbers area

Within the Business Entities section, locate the Tax Registration Numbers area.

2

Enter your numbers

Enter your default VAT Number and Tax Registration Number in the respective fields.

3

Save

Select Save to apply your changes.

Configure country-specific tax registration numbers

1

Open Advanced Settings

Within the Business Entities section, select the Advanced Settings link. Alternatively, navigate to Configuration → Taxes → Tax Settings.

2

Add a country

Select Add Country, choose the country from the dropdown, and enter the VAT and Tax Registration Numbers for that country.

3

Repeat and save

Repeat for each country where you're registered, then select Save to store these settings.

Enable tax collection for specific countries

1

Open the Taxes configuration

Navigate to Configuration → Taxes to see the list of countries, then select the country you want to enable tax collection for.

2

Turn on tax collection

Toggle the Enable Tax Collection switch to the ON position. Recurly applies the default tax rate for that country automatically. To set a custom rate, enter the percentage in the Tax Rate field.

3

Confirm the tax type and save

Make sure the correct tax type (VAT or GST) is selected from the dropdown, then select Save.

Set up province or state-specific taxes

If you're enabling tax collection for a country with province or state-specific taxes — Canada, for example — you'll see an additional section labeled Sub-regions.

1

Add a sub-region

Select Add Sub-region, choose the province or state, and enter its tax rate.

2

Save

Select Save to apply the sub-region tax.

Review and test

1

Create a test invoice

Once your tax settings are in place, create a test invoice for a customer in one of the countries you've configured.

2

Verify the result

Confirm the correct tax rate is applied and that the invoice displays the appropriate VAT or Tax Registration Number.

3

Troubleshoot if needed

If everything looks correct, your setup is complete. If not, revisit the previous steps to find and correct any discrepancies.