This is where you'll put an IOSS, HMRC, VOEC, or EORI number if you have one. You'll only want to include this Tax ID in your customs form if you're shipping an order to an international customer AND that country's sales taxes or VAT (value added tax) was prepaid when you made the sale. By including the Tax ID, your customer won't have to accidentally pay those same taxes again when they receive the package.

You only have to worry about including a Tax ID when creating a label in Pirate Ship if you made the sale on a marketplace OR if you've chosen to opt into a foreign country's tax system for your own website or sales channels. If neither of those are true, you don't need to include an International Tax ID when creating your label.

Some countries (like all the countries in the European Union) require international online marketplaces like eBay, Etsy, or Amazon to automatically collect and prepay any VAT taxes that your customer owes their country for the sale. Most countries have thresholds for this, so for example, in the EU the taxes can only be pre-paid if the order is worth €150 Euros or less. Whenever those marketplaces are prepaying those taxes, they'll give you a Tax ID number. For example, for the European Union, this is known as an IOSS number. You'll need to enter the number into the International Tax ID field in Pirate Ship when creating the label.

When you sell products through any other sales channel besides a marketplace (like your own website on Shopify, WooCommerce, Squarespace, etc., or over the phone or email) then you're not required to do anything UNLESS you've opted into the foreign country's tax system and you have registered your business in the foreign country to collect and prepay your customer's taxes. You can read about paying the VAT tax for your European customers here. In general, we really don't recommend doing this because it's a huge pain in the peg-leg, and your international customers are probably used to paying their country's import and sales taxes.

When entering any IOSS number in the International Tax ID field, be sure to begin with the letters "IM" and follow that with the 10-digit IOSS number. Here's an example of how the proper formatting looks:

IM1234567890

If you're entering an EORU number for a recipient in the EU, its format will be two letters followed by seven digits. Here's an example of how that formatting looks:

DE1234567

If you enter a Tax ID number, don't be alarmed if you don't see it on the label! It's usually not printed on the label (though it may have to be, depending on the shipping service and country). If you don't see it, don't worry; the foreign country will pull the Tax ID up electronically using the tracking number and verify the taxes were paid.

If you don't have a Tax ID, don't worry! The recipient will simply have to pay any sales taxes or import duties that their country charges for international trade. This is a normal part of ordering goods from abroad; every country has taxes and tariffs 👍 We do always recommend setting an expectation with your customers that they may have to pay these, just in case they're surprised.

Any questions? Let us know, we're here to help!