Solidshop uses a three-layer tax system: tax classes group products by tax treatment, tax zones define where taxes apply, and tax rates set the percentage.
Go to your store’s edit page and open the Tax tab. Create a tax class such as “Standard Goods” or “Digital Products”. You can mark one class as the default — products without an explicit tax class will use it automatically.
A tax zone is a geographic area. Add territories (countries and/or states) to define where the zone applies. For example, a “EU VAT” zone might include all 27 EU member states, while a “California” zone includes only the state of California.
A tax rate connects a zone to a class. For each rate you set:
- Name — the display label (e.g. “VAT”, “GST”, “Sales Tax”)
- Rate — the percentage (e.g. 20 for 20%)
- Compound — whether this rate is calculated on top of other taxes
- Applies to shipping — whether shipping costs are also taxed
- Priority — order of calculation when multiple rates apply
Tax display settings
In the Joomla admin, go to Solidshop → Config (or System → Global Configuration → Solidshop) to configure how prices and taxes are handled globally:
- Tax price input type — whether the prices you enter in the product form are exclusive of tax (you enter the net price, tax is added at checkout) or inclusive (you enter the gross price, tax is extracted at checkout)
- Tax price display — whether customers see prices including or excluding tax on the storefront
For EU/UK stores: set input type to “inclusive” and display to “including”. Customers see the final price; Solidshop calculates the tax component internally. For US/CA stores: use “exclusive” and “excluding” — tax is added at checkout, which is the expected experience.