Is this a bug?

The EU VAT Assistant applies an exemption only when the following conditions are met:
1. The billing country is different from the shop’s base country.
2. The VAT number, composed as billing country + VAT number, is a valid EU VAT number.

The check is performed whenever the billing country or the VAT number change, and again when the customer actually proceeds with the order. The logic is the following:
1. The country is set to Netherlands, VAT number is 123456 -> The VAT number becomes NL123456. Even if the number is valid, this doesn’t apply the exemption, if shop’s base country is NL.
2. The country is changed to Belgium, VAT number is 123456 -> The VAT number becomes BE123456. If the VAT number is valid, an exemption is applied.
3. The country is changed back to Netherlands, VAT number is 123456 -> The VAT number becomes again NL123456. Like in case #1, no exemption is applied.

In short, it’s not possible to “pre-validate” a VAT number and then change the billing country to get an exemption anyway.

This logic works correctly in the latest EU VAT Assistant. Here’s an example showing that, using a test website with base country Ireland:
1. The billing country is Ireland, a valid Irish VAT number is entered. Irish VAT applies. No exemption, because the base country is also Ireland: https://prnt.sc/1uvbsa4
2. The billing country is set to Italy, a valid Italian VAT number is entered. An exemption is applied: https://prnt.sc/1uvbuws
3. The billing country is changed back to Ireland, the VAT number is the Italian one. The exemption is no longer applied, and Irish VAT applies, because the number doesn’t match the billing country, so it’s not valid: https://prnt.sc/1uvbwpq

If the behaviour on your site is different, it could be because there is a misconfiguration (e.g. incorrect VAT rates), or something else could be interfering with the VAT exemption logic, applying when it’s not due. It’s not a bug in the EU VAT Assistant, though.

Hi Diego,

Thank you for your reply.

I have set the VAT rates correctly I assume: https://prnt.sc/1vziwl9

I have now de-installed the plugin as it happened twice already. So it’s clearly not working for my website then. I only have an angry customer now that says this has cost him money.

Kind regards,
Jeroen

Most recent client didn’t even enter a VAT number and got VAT deducted.. So it’s impossible to enter for him in his administration as well. https://prnt.sc/1vzjx8w

But anyways, I see a lot of people positive of your plugin so maybe it doesn’t match my theme or so

But edit: that could also be because of deleting the plugin btw idk.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 1 month ago by Jeroen-marketing.

We can exclude for certain both the possibility that one could get a VAT exemption by entering a VAT number for the wrong country, or by not entering a VAT number at all. That’s not how the EU VAT Assistant works, it can’t apply “random” exemptions with incorrect data. The validation logic has been tested for all these edge conditions, and it has been running for over 6 years, on our own website as well. We never saw a case of “random exemptions” without a valid VAT number.

The theme has no effect on the plugin, unless it contains some code that specifically interacts with it. Or, perhaps, the code that added the exemption was elsewhere. That’s the only possible explanation I could give for the scenario you described.

In relation to your last comment, if you’re wondering if the VAT number is empty because you deleted the EU VAT Assistant, that’s not the case. The EU VAT Assistant only deletes the VAT data stored against an order when you perform the “data cleanup” operation in WordPress and the related option “Delete VAT data when erasing personal data” is enabled in the plugin’s settings. If that’s not the case, the plugin did not delete the VAT number (and did not apply an exemption without one, either).