This article explains the four tax strategies available in Swap Global — what each one does, how it works, and how to enable it.
What is a tax strategy?
A tax strategy determines how taxes and duties are applied to your product prices and shown to customers at checkout. Choosing the right strategy for each market helps you create a transparent checkout experience, reduce cart abandonment, and meet local pricing expectations.
You set a tax strategy at the pricing zone level in your Swap Dashboard.
💡 Strategy tip: Once you set a tax and/or pricing strategy, you should monitor it closely to assess its impact on conversion, revenue and other relevant KPIs. If it isn't resonating with a specific zone, try another strategy or run a test using the Pricing Strategies Lab.
Available strategies
Strategy | What's built into the product price | Added at checkout |
Checkout | Nothing | Taxes and duties added live |
Tax-Inclusive | VAT | Nothing extra |
Duty-Inclusive | Import duties | Nothing extra |
TLC-Inclusive | VAT + duties + import fees | Nothing extra |
Checkout
Checkout is the default tax strategy. Taxes and duties are calculated live at checkout and added as a separate line item. Product prices stay unchanged on your storefront.
Best for: Markets where customers expect to pay taxes separately, or where your brand hasn't yet reached tax nexus.
Tax-Inclusive Pricing
Tax-Inclusive Pricing builds VAT directly into your product prices. The price your customer sees is the final product price — VAT is already included.
Why use Tax-Inclusive Pricing?
Clearer pricing: Customers see the final price upfront.
Better experience: No extra VAT charges added at checkout.
Higher conversion: Fewer surprises means fewer abandoned carts.
Compliance: Aligns with regional expectations, especially in Europe.
How it works
When you enable Tax-Inclusive Pricing for a country:
Swap calculates that country's VAT rate.
That VAT is added to the product price shown on your storefront.
The VAT amount is not added again at checkout — it's already included.
Example
Base price: $100
10% price increase via coefficient: $110
VAT rate of 20%: final product price = $132
What about shipping VAT?
Tax-Inclusive Pricing only affects product prices. VAT on shipping is still charged at checkout.
The VAT breakdown line at checkout will show 0. Any remaining VAT (such as shipping VAT) appears under a separate line in the tax breakdown.
Price coefficients
If you're using a price coefficient and Tax-Inclusive Pricing, VAT is added after the coefficient is applied.
Tax and duties buffers
Tax and duties buffers apply only to shipping and duties, not product prices. We don't recommend using buffers with Tax-Inclusive Pricing.
Swap's guarantee
If an incorrect VAT rate is applied for a country, Swap will cover the difference. You'll only be billed for the VAT amount shown at checkout.
How to enable Tax-Inclusive Pricing
Go to your Swap Dashboard.
Open a pricing zone.
Under Tax Strategy, select Tax Inclusive.
Save your changes.
Limitations
Available only for Shopify stores on the Advanced or Plus plan.
Each country in a Tax-Inclusive zone uses one Shopify Market.
Maximum of 50 markets per store (Shopify limitation).
Supported countries and VAT rates
⚠ This list is subject to change.
Country | VAT % |
Afghanistan | 10% |
Albania | 20% |
Algeria | 19% |
Andorra | 4.5% |
Angola | 14% |
Anguilla | 13% |
Argentina | 21% |
Aruba | 4% |
Austria | 20% |
Azerbaijan | 18% |
Bahamas | 12% |
Bahrain | 5% |
Bangladesh | 15% |
Barbados | 17.5% |
Belarus | 20% |
Belgium | 21% |
Bermuda | 0% |
Bolivia | 14.94% |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 17% |
Brazil | 17% |
Bulgaria | 20% |
Cameroon | 19.25% |
Cape Verde | 15% |
Chile | 19% |
China | 13% |
Colombia | 19% |
Cook Islands | 15% |
Costa Rica | 13% |
Croatia | 25% |
Curacao (Verde) | 6% |
Cyprus | 19% |
Czech Republic | 21% |
Denmark | 25% |
Djibouti | 10% |
Dominica | 15% |
Dominican Republic | 18% |
Ecuador | 12% |
Egypt | 14% |
Estonia | 22% |
Ethiopia | 15% |
Fiji | 9% |
Finland | 24% |
France | 20% |
Germany | 19% |
Ghana | 15% |
Gibraltar | 0% |
Greece | 24% |
Guam | 2% |
Guinea | 0% |
Guyana | 14% |
Honduras | 15% |
Hungary | 27% |
Iceland | 24% |
Indonesia | 11% |
Iran | 9% |
Ireland | 23% |
Israel | 17% |
Italy | 22% |
Jersey | 5% |
Jordan | 16% |
Kazakhstan | 12% |
Kenya | 16% |
Kosovo | 18% |
Kuwait | 5% |
Kyrgyzstan | 12% |
Latvia | 21% |
Lebanon | 11% |
Lithuania | 21% |
Luxembourg | 17% |
Macedonia | 18% |
Madagascar | 20% |
Malawi | 16.5% |
Malta | 18% |
Mauritius | 15% |
Mexico | 16% |
Moldova | 20% |
Monaco | 20% |
Montenegro | 21% |
Morocco | 20% |
Namibia | 15% |
Nepal | 13% |
Netherlands | 21% |
Nigeria | 7.5% |
Norway | 25% |
Oman | 5% |
Panama | 7% |
Paraguay | 10% |
Peru | 18% |
Philippines | 12% |
Poland | 23% |
Portugal | 23% |
Puerto Rico | 11.5% |
Qatar | 5% |
Romania | 19% |
Russian Federation | 20% |
Sao Tome and Principe | 0% |
Saudi Arabia | 15% |
Serbia | 20% |
Seychelles | 15% |
Slovakia | 20% |
Slovenia | 22% |
South Africa | 15% |
South Korea | 10% |
South Sudan | 10% |
Spain | 21% |
Sri Lanka | 12% |
St Lucia | 12.5% |
Sweden | 25% |
Switzerland | 8.1% |
Taiwan | 5% |
Tanzania | 18% |
Thailand | 10% |
Togo | 18% |
Trinidad and Tobago | 12.5% |
Tunisia | 19% |
Turkey | 20% |
Uganda | 18% |
Ukraine | 20% |
United Arab Emirates | 5% |
United Kingdom | 20% |
Uruguay | 22% |
Uzbekistan | 12% |
Vanuatu | 0% |
Venezuela | 16% |
Vietnam | 10% |
Zambia | 16% |
Zimbabwe | 15% |
Duty-Inclusive Pricing
Duty-Inclusive Pricing builds import duties directly into your product price. Customers see a single all-in price with duties already included. Only shipping is added at checkout.
Why use Duty-Inclusive Pricing?
No surprise import fees at delivery
Clearer pricing at storefront level
Improved international conversion
Predictable landed cost experience
Customers pay duties upfront rather than facing unexpected charges at delivery.
How it works
When Duty-Inclusive Pricing is enabled, Swap calculates estimated import duties based on:
Destination country
HS codes (product classification)
Duty rates
De minimis thresholds
These duties are built into the product price displayed on your storefront.
Example
Base price: $100
Estimated duties: $15
Product price shown on storefront: $115
Shipping is added separately at checkout.
What your customer sees
A single product price with duties included
No additional duty charges at checkout
Shipping added separately
Taxes shown separately at checkout
Orders below de minimis
Even when an order falls below a country's de minimis threshold, Duty-Inclusive Pricing maintains consistent pricing logic. If duties are not applicable due to de minimis rules, Swap will not collect them at checkout. (Note: de minimis has been removed for both the US and EU.)
How duty rates are determined
Swap applies a duty calculation based on country-specific rates and product classification. Accurate HS codes are required for correct duty calculation.
How to enable Duty-Inclusive Pricing
Go to your Swap Dashboard.
Open the relevant pricing zone.
Under Tax Strategy, select Duty Inclusive.
Save your changes.
Compatibility and limitations
Available for supported international markets.
To include both VAT and duties in the product price, use TLC-Inclusive Pricing instead.
Requires accurate HS codes for correct duty calculation.
Shopify allows a maximum of 50 active markets per store.
Available for Shopify stores on Advanced or Plus plans only.
TLC-Inclusive Pricing (Total Landed Cost)
TLC-Inclusive Pricing includes all costs — product price, taxes, duties, and import fees — directly in your product price. Your customer pays one clear, upfront price (plus shipping).
Why use TLC-Inclusive Pricing?
No surprise fees at delivery
Improved conversion
Simplified international sales
Compliance without complexity
How it works
Swap calculates the total cost based on:
Destination country
HS codes (product classification)
Tax and duty rates
De minimis thresholds
These are combined into the product price shown to customers.
Example
Base price: $100
Duties and taxes: $20
TLC-inclusive price shown on storefront: $120
The "My prices already include" checkbox
When you select TLC-Inclusive, you'll see a checkbox labelled "My prices already include the selected tax strategy."
Checked → Swap back-calculates VAT and duties from your existing price, treating it as already inclusive.
Unchecked → Swap adds VAT and duties on top of your base price, treating it as exclusive.
What your customer sees
A single, all-in product price
No separate line items for taxes or duties
Only shipping added at checkout
Nexus and tax collection
Taxes and duties are only collected in countries where your brand has reached a tax nexus (a local sales threshold).
If your brand has not hit nexus in a country, taxes and duties will not be collected, even with TLC-Inclusive selected.
Once nexus is reached and tax collection is enabled, Swap applies VAT and duties according to your checkbox setting.
Orders below de minimis
TLC-Inclusive Pricing always accounts for duties and taxes in the price for consistency. However, if your brand has not reached nexus in that country, no taxes will be collected on the order breakdown until nexus is enabled.
How duty rates are determined
Swap uses a single flat duty rate per country, not product-specific rates. This simplifies setup and keeps pricing predictable.
⚠ Swap may slightly overestimate to ensure all costs are covered. You're only billed for the tax collected — Swap covers the difference if needed.
How to enable TLC-Inclusive Pricing
Go to your Swap Dashboard.
Open the relevant pricing zone.
Under Tax Strategy, select TLC Inclusive.
Review the checkbox labelled "My prices already include the selected tax strategy":
Check it if your prices already include VAT and duties.
Leave it unchecked if your prices are base prices and Swap should add taxes on top.
Save your changes.
Compatibility and limitations
TLC-Inclusive is available in all countries. However, in some countries duty and tax rates fluctuate too frequently for Swap to calculate and guarantee a reliable total landed cost.
For these countries, Swap will display a warning in the dashboard. You'll need to manually increase your product prices by a flat rate to cover the estimated average duty and tax for that market — Swap will then back-calculate the VAT and duties from your adjusted price. In this case, the "My prices already include the selected tax strategy" checkbox must be enabled.
You cannot use TLC-Inclusive with other tax strategies in the same pricing zone.
TLC strategy replaces fixed Shopify pricing.
Available only on Shopify Advanced or Plus plans.
Shopify limits you to 50 active markets.
FAQ
Why don't the tax lines at checkout match actual fees?
TLC and Duty-Inclusive charges are pre-calculated and built into the product price. Actual duties may differ slightly. Swap benchmarks and adjusts over time to stay accurate.
Can I switch between tax strategies?
Yes, but pricing zones tied to an active pricing strategy will be locked. To make changes, remove or update the active strategy first.
Can I use different strategies for different markets?
Yes. Each pricing zone can have a different tax strategy. You cannot mix strategies within a single pricing zone.
Which plan do I need?
Tax-Inclusive, Duty-Inclusive, and TLC-Inclusive all require Shopify Advanced or Plus. The Checkout strategy works on any Shopify plan.