Introduction
VAT Engine documentation for EU VAT calculation, connected-source order reporting, rates, source profiles, integrations, and OSS/IOSS compliance workflows.
What is VAT Engine?
VAT Engine is in active alpha development. Access is currently free and does not require a payment method while we validate the API, compliance workflows, and connected-source integrations.
VAT Engine serves VAT-rate data sourced from the official EU TEDB (Taxes in Europe Database) and covers all 27 EU member states with 37 curated tax classes.
Available today: account dashboard, API-key lifecycle, VAT calculations, rate lookup, tax classes, source profiles, and listed compliance previews. Experimental during alpha: connected-source integrations, classification workflows, and filing-preparation features may change and require independent review. Support is best-effort through the public contact channel; no service-level commitment is offered during alpha. Review every result against your business facts and professional advice. VAT Engine does not submit returns or provide legal or tax advice.
Key Features
- EU-wide coverage — All 27 EU member states with standard and reduced VAT rates.
- 37 tax classes — Standard, food, books, pharmaceuticals, accommodation, and more — derived from the official EU TEDB.
- Accurate calculations — Integer arithmetic in minor currency units (cents) to avoid floating-point errors.
- Recorded-date rate lookup — Query a past or present date where recorded/imported rate history provides coverage. Current live TEDB apply windows are not yet guaranteed legal-applicability intervals.
- Compliance tracking — Shopify and other connected-source orders feed the committed supply ledger, Country Exposure, VAT Rate Mix, Turnover Trend, and filtered CSV exports. API calculation requests remain available in a separate audit view. Filing Prep, OSS/IOSS previews, locked returns, source tags, and ECB-backed EUR normalization use the committed supply-event record.
- Decision-source transparency — The authenticated Compliance workspace shows exact reviewed official document identities, continuous binding-source intervals, supporting guidance, known gaps, and unsupported national options that define the architecture for planned cross-platform tax reconciliation. Historical OSS, marketplace, and IOSS coverage begins with the reviewed 1 July 2021 VAT Directive consolidation. This source milestone does not imply that later automatic rule packs are already available.
- SME thresholds — EU Small Business Scheme exemption and cash-accounting thresholds for all 27 member states, including national-currency amounts for non-eurozone countries.
- Simple REST API — JSON request/response with straightforward authentication via API keys.
- Self-service API keys — Generate, rotate, and revoke API keys from the dashboard.
- Secure account dashboard — Manage profile details, account ID, subscription access, password changes, 2FA, and backup-code regeneration from self-service dashboard pages.
- Integrations workspace — Connect supported storefronts, map stores and channels to reporting sources, preview imported activity, monitor synchronization, and review privacy or classification actions from the dashboard.
Approved immutable TEDB versions retain source fingerprints and bounded review-chain proof. An authenticated calculation backed by complete sealed evidence can be replayed from its original request, pinned rate version, and registered calculator. Older recorded/imported windows remain explicitly unverifiable and cannot become replayable merely because their numeric rate matches a reviewed rate.
Quick Example
curl -X POST https://api.vat-engine.app/v1/vat/calculate \-H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \-H "Content-Type: application/json" \-d '{ "country": "DE", "currency": "EUR", "gross_amount_minor": 11900, "price_includes_vat": true, "tax_class_id": "standard"}'Response:
{
"country": "DE",
"currency": "EUR",
"vat_rate_bps": 1900,
"gross_amount_minor": 11900,
"net_amount_minor": 10000,
"vat_amount_minor": 1900
}