Filing reminders
Why reminders matter more for IOSS
IOSS is a monthly cycle with a hard deadline: the return and payment for month M are due by the end of month M+1, with no weekend or public-holiday extension. Miss it repeatedly and the scheme’s persistent-non-compliance rules can get you excluded. Twelve deadlines a year is exactly the kind of thing that slips, so the plugin emails you before each one.
The reminder schedule
For every return deadline, up to three reminder emails are sent:
| When | What it says |
|---|---|
| 14 days before | The month being filed, its per-country totals so far captured, and the deadline date. |
| 7 days before | The same summary, refreshed. |
| 1 day before | A final nudge — tomorrow is the last day. |
Each email names the reporting month explicitly (e.g. “your IOSS return for June 2026 is due by 31 July 2026”) and links to the dashboard for the full figures. If you activate the plugin mid-window, only the remaining reminders for the current deadline are sent — you won’t get a stale 14-day email seven days out.
Nil-return reminders
A month with no IOSS-eligible sales still requires a nil return — skipping it counts as a missed filing. When a reporting month closes with zero eligible sales, the reminders still go out, worded for the nil case: there is nothing to pay, but there is still something to file. If an intermediary files for you, this is a useful prompt to confirm they actually did.
Configuring the recipient
Under WooCommerce → IOSS → Settings, the notifications section has:
- Enable filing reminders — the master toggle.
- Recipient email — defaults to the store admin address; set it to whoever actually files (or your intermediary’s inbox, if they welcome that).
WooCommerce email settings
The reminder is a standard WooCommerce email, so it also appears under WooCommerce → Settings → Emails → IOSS filing reminder. From there you can:
- Enable or disable it (this and the plugin-side toggle both need to be on for emails to send).
- Adjust the subject and heading.
- Choose HTML or plain text — HTML uses your store’s WooCommerce email template, matching your other store emails.
If reminders are not arriving
- Check both toggles: the plugin’s notifications setting and the WooCommerce email’s own enable switch.
- Confirm the recipient address is right and check spam.
- Remember the schedule — at 20 days out, no email is due yet.
- Test general mail delivery. WordPress’s
wp_mail()is unreliable on many hosts; an SMTP plugin (e.g. WP Mail SMTP) fixes most silent delivery failures.
More in Troubleshooting.
What the reminders are not
They are calendar assistance, not compliance. The email tells you a deadline is coming; filing the return, paying the VAT, and confirming your figures remain your (or your intermediary’s) job.