Getting started

What the plugin does

EU VAT IOSS – Import One Stop Shop for WooCommerce is for stores selling goods into the EU from outside it — US, UK, Swiss, Canadian, or Australian stores, and stores dropshipping from non-EU warehouses. Under the IOSS scheme, you charge the customer’s destination-country VAT at checkout on B2C consignments up to EUR 150 intrinsic value and report it in a single monthly return; above EUR 150, IOSS does not apply and the customer pays import VAT and duties on delivery.

The plugin implements both sides of that line: it works out each cart’s intrinsic value in EUR, charges the destination rate when the consignment qualifies, removes EU VAT (with a clear notice) when it does not, and captures everything the monthly return and the 10-year record-keeping duty require — fixed at payment acceptance using the European Central Bank’s daily exchange rate.

It prepares figures; it does not file. You (or your intermediary) submit the return with your member state of identification.

Installation

1. In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New.
2. Search for EU VAT IOSS.
3. Click Install Now, then Activate.

WooCommerce must be installed and active. The plugin is fully compatible with High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS). Once activated, it adds a WooCommerce → IOSS menu item with the dashboard, reports, and settings tabs.

The setup wizard

On first activation you are redirected to the setup wizard. It has five steps:

1. Establishment country — where your business is established. Any country is accepted; if you pick an EU member state, the wizard notes that intra-EU distance sales belong to the OSS scheme (our sibling plugin) — an EU business dispatching from outside the EU is still in IOSS scope.
2. IOSS number — enter your IM-format IOSS number. The plugin validates the format only (no public validity lookup exists) and shows registration and intermediary guidance for your establishment country. If you have not registered yet, see Registration and intermediaries — you can finish the wizard without a number and add it later.
3. Ship-from country — where your goods are dispatched from. IOSS only covers goods dispatched from outside the EU, so orders shipped from an EU location are excluded automatically.
4. Marketplaces — whether you also sell through marketplaces (Amazon, eBay, Etsy). The wizard explains the deemed-supplier rule: those orders use the marketplace’s IOSS number and stay out of your return. See Marketplaces and B2B.
5. Currency and finish — the wizard confirms your detected store currency (non-EUR stores are fine — ECB conversion is built in) and offers the one-click VAT rate import.

You can re-run the wizard at any time from WooCommerce → IOSS → Settings.

Your first rate import

The rate import creates one WooCommerce tax rate per EU member state, at the standard rate, in a dedicated IOSS Import VAT tax class. Run it from the wizard’s final step or later from Settings. Until rates are imported, no VAT is charged — Checkout VAT explains the mechanism, and Settings covers the record-only mode if an external tax service already charges VAT for you.

After setup

Open WooCommerce → IOSS to see the monthly dashboard: the current month’s per-country totals, IOSS-eligible order counts, and the next return deadline. You will also see an IOSS column in the orders list and a per-order meta box showing how each order was assessed — eligibility, EUR values, the FX rate used, and a why-excluded reason where applicable.

Not tax advice

The plugin is a compliance-support tool. It helps you charge, record, and summarize IOSS VAT, but it does not constitute tax or legal advice. Always confirm your registration and reporting obligations with a qualified tax professional or your IOSS intermediary.

What’s next

Understand how orders are assessed in Eligibility and the EUR 150 rule, set up filing reminders, and review every option in Settings.