Tax on your store

1. 1
   Open your store, then Taxes.
2. 2
   Under Where you're registered, press Add registration for each place where you hold a tax registration, for example United Kingdom VAT, Texas sales tax or India GST (with your GSTIN and state).
3. 3
   Mark one as Home. Your home registration decides the title of your invoices.

If you're not registered anywhere, leave the list empty. Your store then charges no tax and issues receipts.

Under Tax rates, add a rate for each place where you charge tax: a whole country (Germany 19%) or a state or region (California 7.25%). A rate only charges tax where you have a registration. Places without a rate pay no tax.

For the United Kingdom, the EU, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the UAE, South Africa, Canada, Malaysia and India, the Taxes page shows the standard rate we last checked, with the date and the source, for example Suggested: 20% (standard rate, checked 28 Oct 2026, source gov.uk). It is only a suggestion: press Use or Add this rate, check it, then save. We never add or change a saved rate. If a suggestion you used changes later, the Taxes page tells you so you can review your rate.

In the United States, add one rate per state where you're registered. LotsStore does not add city or county rates for you. For a local rate, add a ZIP code rate: one ZIP code (78701), a prefix (787*) or a range (78701-78799) with the full rate, state and local together. It replaces the state rate for those ZIP codes, and when several match, the most specific one is used.

For a place where you sell but charge no tax, you can add a rate with the treatment Export, no tax or Not collected here, so your records say why.

Every product uses Standard until you choose another category. Add categories such as Food or Books under Tax categories, then set what each one pays in each country under Tax rates. Choose a product's category on its page, under Tax category, or for many products at once: tick them in the product list, choose the category and press Set tax. A single variant can have its own category.

Prices on your store show incl. VAT, incl. GST or incl. tax when your prices include tax, and + tax when tax is added at checkout. A store that is not registered anywhere shows no label.

India stores can keep an HSN or SAC code and a GST rate on each category.

• My prices include tax: shoppers pay the price they see. The tax inside it follows their country, and a country without tax pays the same price.
• Without it, tax is added at checkout after the shopper enters their address.
• Shipping can be taxed the same way as the items in the order, at one rate of its own, or not at all. A rate can also say Tax shipping here off for one state or country.
• Tax is rounded half up, once for each tax rate on an order, or on each line if you choose that.

Orders in your own state show CGST and SGST; orders to other states show IGST. Orders shipped outside India charge IGST unless you choose Exports under LUT (no IGST). Composition and unregistered stores charge no GST and issue a bill of supply.

Each order gets one document when you accept it, titled for your home registration: for example a VAT invoice in the United Kingdom, a tax invoice in India or Australia, an invoice in the EU or Canada, and a receipt in the United States or when you're not registered. Numbers run in order without gaps, for example INV/26-27/000001 or RCPT/2026/000001. Documents already issued never change.

The Taxes page shows the title and number your next document will have.

If you take payments with your own Stripe account, you can switch on Use Stripe Tax on the Taxes page. Stripe then works out the tax for each shopper's address, including city and county rates in the US, using the registrations you add in your own Stripe account. It does this for every order, whatever the shopper pays with, so the total never changes when they pick another way to pay. Each sale and refund is recorded in your Stripe Tax reports. Stripe charges you for Stripe Tax on your Stripe bill.

1. 1
   In your Stripe Dashboard, open Tax. Add your business address and each place where you're registered. Stripe only charges tax where you've added a registration in Stripe.
2. 2
   Open Developers, then API keys, edit your LotsStore key and set Tax Calculations, Transactions to Write.
3. 3
   On the Taxes page, tick Use Stripe Tax and save. LotsStore asks Stripe for one test calculation first and tells you what to fix if it doesn't work.

When prices include tax, the shopper still pays the price they see; only the tax inside it follows their address. If Stripe can't answer, checkout asks the shopper to try again in a minute and no order is placed. You can choose Use my own rates if Stripe Tax is unavailable instead; those orders show Tax from: your rates (Stripe Tax was unavailable). If your Stripe connection is removed, checkout uses your own rates.

• It calculates and shows tax from your own registrations and rates, or from Stripe Tax when you switch it on, and keeps a record of the tax on each order.
• It suggests standard rates for some countries, with the date we checked them and the source, but never saves or updates a rate for you. It does not check tax numbers, decide where you must register, or file returns.
• Check your rates with your tax office or adviser before you start selling, and again when rates change.