Tax in WooCommerce depends on several settings that interact: whether prices include tax, which address tax is based on, how rates are matched, and how it displays. Get one wrong and the totals are wrong everywhere. Most tax problems are configuration rather than rates — the rates are usually right and being applied to the wrong thing.
One thing we will not do
We configure the rates you give us. We do not advise on what rates you should be charging, whether you need to register somewhere, or how to treat a particular product — those are questions for your accountant, and getting them wrong has consequences we cannot underwrite.
Bring us the numbers and the rules; we will make WooCommerce apply them correctly.
Tax configuration & rate table setup
Tax is calculating wrongly, or not at all. We set up rates, classes and display so the numbers are right at checkout and on invoices.
- Full backup taken before we start
- If we can’t fix it, you get your money back
- We never ask for your own password
What we need from you
- The rates you need to charge, by country or region
- Whether your displayed prices include or exclude tax
- Any products or shipping that are taxed differently
- Your registration numbers if they need to appear on invoices
This or something else?
| Tax not applying at all | This fix covers it |
| Tax applying at the wrong rate | This fix covers it |
| Prices showing wrongly with or without tax | This fix covers it |
| Shipping taxed incorrectly | This fix covers it |
| You need advice on what to charge | Speak to your accountant first |
What we do
- Review your current tax settings and identify what conflicts
- Configure rates by country, state or postcode as required
- Set tax classes for products and shipping that are treated differently
- Configure inclusive or exclusive pricing and display consistently
- Verify totals at cart, checkout, order confirmation and email
- Test with addresses from every market you sell to
What is included
- Tax calculating correctly for every market, verified at checkout
- Consistent display across cart, checkout, emails and invoices
- A note explaining how the configuration works
- The pre-fix backup, kept for 30 days
Not included
- Advising what tax you should charge — that is your accountant’s call, not ours
- Registering you for tax in any jurisdiction
- Automated tax service subscriptions, though we can configure one you have
- Filing or reporting of any kind
Questions about this fix
My prices include tax but checkout adds more. Why?
A mismatch between how prices are entered and how tax is calculated. If prices are marked as including tax but the rate is set to add on top, it is charged twice. It is one of the most common configurations to get backwards.
Do I need a tax automation service?
It depends on how many jurisdictions you sell into. For one country with a single rate, manual configuration is simpler and free. Across many regions with changing rates, automation earns its cost. We will tell you honestly which side you are on.
Tax is right at checkout but wrong on the invoice. Is that separate?
Same fix. Display settings for cart, checkout and emails are configured independently in WooCommerce, so they can disagree. We check all of them rather than just the one you noticed.
Can you fix tax on orders already placed?
Not retrospectively — those totals are recorded as they were charged. We can tell you which orders were affected and by how much, so you can decide what to do about them.
Do I need to update this every time a tax rate changes?
Only if you manage rates manually — a rate change from a taxing authority doesn't update itself in WooCommerce. If you're using an automated tax service instead, that part is handled for you.
Related fixes
If this is the second time this year
A bad update breaking the site is a symptom of updates not being tested first. Care plans run every update on a staging clone before it reaches your live site, which is the actual fix for this happening again.
Your access, your rules
Create a separate admin account for us and delete it when we are done. For anything else, we get in touch and agree a method — never a form field on this site, never by reply to an email.
We back up first, always
Before anything is touched we take a full backup and keep it for 30 days. If a fix goes wrong, we put the site back exactly as it was.
If it is not what you bought
If the problem turns out smaller than what you ordered, we refund the difference. If it is bigger, we stop and send a quote before doing any extra work.
If we cannot fix it
You get back what we received. Diagnosis is on us — you only pay when the problem is actually solved. The payment processor takes its fee before the money reaches us, so we never hold it and it is not ours to return. That is true here as everywhere else.
If it comes back
Reply within seven days of delivery and we put it back on the bench at no cost. The fix is not finished until it holds.
What we are responsible for
If something goes wrong with a fix, our responsibility is limited to what you paid for it. We take a full backup first so mistakes can be undone, and we tell you before doing anything outside what you bought.