This post walks you through the exact steps to legally set up your WooCommerce store in Europe, with practical examples and clear instructions. ✅

✅ 1. Register Your Business Legally

Before touching WooCommerce, make sure to:

• Register your economic activity: as a freelancer or company in your country.

• Request a VAT number (EU VAT ID): especially if you plan to sell across borders in the EU.

🔎 You can check your EU VAT ID on VIES: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies

🧾 2. Do I Need to Charge VAT with WooCommerce?

Yes, unless you’re exempt. Here’s how it breaks down:

• Domestic sales: charge your local VAT according to the product type.

• EU cross-border B2C sales: apply the customer’s country VAT if you exceed €10,000/year (OSS scheme).

• EU B2B sales (with valid VAT ID): 0% VAT (reverse charge).

• Sales outside the EU: no VAT (export).

📌 Learn more about the OSS (One-Stop Shop) regime:
Official EU VAT OSS Guide

⚙️ 3. How to Set Up Taxes in WooCommerce

Step-by-step:

1. Enable tax settings
   Go to WordPress > WooCommerce > Settings > General
   ✅ Tick “Enable taxes”.

2. Configure tax zones & rates
   Go to WooCommerce > Settings > Tax > “Standard Rates”.

   • Add rows for each country.

   • Enter VAT rate, ISO code, and label (e.g. “Germany Standard VAT”).

3. Enable automatic calculation with plugins
   Recommended tools:

   • EU VAT Assistant

   • WooCommerce Tax

   • Quaderno

4. Choose how to display prices
   WooCommerce > Settings > Tax > “Display prices in the shop”.

🗂️ 4. VAT Table by Country & Product

🟢 Download the full CSV table for WooCommerce import

💡 5. Legal & Tax Tips for Selling Online in the EU

• Keep records of your sales per country to know when VAT applies.

• Consider using the OSS scheme if you exceed €10,000/year in cross-border sales.

• Clearly display prices with or without VAT based on customer location.

• Include your VAT number on invoices.

🔧 6. Recommended Plugins for Selling in Europe

• WooCommerce EU VAT Compliance – for legal tax handling

• Quaderno – smart VAT invoicing and compliance

• WooCommerce Subscriptions – for recurring sales

• TranslatePress – for multilingual shops

📍 Conclusion

Selling with WooCommerce in Europe is entirely possible, even for solo entrepreneurs. The key is to comply with VAT rules and configure WooCommerce correctly from the start.

👉 Need help figuring out how VAT applies to your case?
Use our free VAT consultant tool:
🔗 https://taxtosell.eu/en/services/vat-tax-consultant