Use this guide to let Cademy work out VAT at checkout with its Automatic Tax/VAT Handling feature, which is in BETA. It explains which customers are charged VAT, how to set up the tax profile and each course’s classification, and which cases need checking. It is for course providers whose tax registration is in the United Kingdom or the Netherlands.
What Automatic VAT Uses to Work Out the Tax
A tax profile holds settings such as your tax rate, registration details and whether tax is included in prices or added to them. Tax Course Type is the classification used for a course’s automatic tax calculation. It is separate from the course’s title and delivery settings. To set up a tax profile without automatic handling, see Set Up VAT for Course Sales.
At checkout, automatic handling uses the profile’s tax-registration country, the customer’s country, whether they buy as an individual or a business, the course’s tax classification and, for event admission, the event’s location. For some business customers, whether a VAT number is entered also matters.
Automatic Tax/VAT Handling applies to course items. A custom charge under Other Items, such as room hire or catering, does not use those country and course-classification rules. It uses the tax rate of its selected tax profile, or the account default, together with the order’s VAT setting. When an Admin creates or edits an order, both courses and custom items use the ordinary tax-profile calculation. Different profiles can give different tax amounts. See Set Up VAT for Course Sales for profile settings.
For an enabled tax profile, Pass VAT adds tax to the item price, Absorb VAT includes tax in that price, and VAT Exempt removes tax. An account using another tax label shows that label instead of VAT. These order choices do not turn tax on for a disabled profile. Check the selected setting and final total on the order.
This BETA feature does not look up a destination country’s tax rate. For some cross-border online or digital sales to individuals, the matching rule is one for tax in the customer’s country, and the current calculation charges no tax for that rule.
Automatic Tax Is Included on the Teams Plan for UK and Netherlands Providers
System Admins set up account tax profiles. A Course Owner with access to a course can edit its tax classification. Automatic handling is a plan feature and is included in the Teams plan. If the Automatic Tax/VAT Handling switch cannot be changed, your account does not have the feature. See Understand Cademy Plans, Limits and Fees, or ask Cademy Support what your account includes.
The automatic rules cover providers with Country of tax registration set to United Kingdom or Netherlands. The selector offers only these two countries. Do not select a different country just to turn on a calculation.
Turn On Automatic VAT in Your Tax Profile
Open Settings > Payments as a System Admin. Expand Tax / VAT. Open Default Tax Profile Options, or the existing additional profile you want the course to use.
Turn on Enable Tax/VAT for this profile to show its tax controls. Review Tax / VAT rate, Your registered Tax/VAT Number, Tax Label and Show prices without the Tax/VAT included. Automatic handling still uses the rate you set when it charges tax.
Check the rate before saving. The editor uses whole percentages; ask Cademy Support if you need a decimal rate.
Turn on Automatic Tax/VAT Handling, marked BETA. Select the correct Country of tax registration. A box headed This feature is in BETA appears under the country. It ends with this text: “Disclaimer: Tax calculations are provided for convenience only. Please verify their accuracy independently. Cademy does not accept responsibility for any errors and recommends consulting a tax professional.”
Review the other changes on the Payments page and select Save in Tax / VAT. Reopen Settings > Payments > Tax / VAT and confirm the saved values. Fix any error or missing value before relying on the setup.
For the default profile, or an additional profile with its own saved setting, turning Show prices without the Tax/VAT included on adds tax to the entered price when tax is charged; turning it off includes tax in that price. Check the saved settings and final total, especially for inherited settings.
Why Save Is Disabled and Which Profile’s Settings Apply
Save is disabled if any profile has automatic handling turned on without a tax-registration country. Check every such profile, including a profile whose tax switch is off.
The default profile applies when a course has no additional profile selected. Unset values on an additional profile can come from the default, including automatic handling. A switch that looks off does not prove an unset value is off. Check the course’s profile and the default together; ask Cademy Support if the saved behaviour is unclear.
Set the Course’s Tax Profile and Tax Course Type
Go to Courses, open the course and select Edit Course. Open the Settings tab, then Payments.
Under Payment Methods, check Tax Profile if it is shown. This selector appears when at least one additional tax profile exists. Select the saved profile you want, or Default Tax Profile.
Find Tax Course Type. The editor shows it when automatic handling is turned on in the selected profile, or in the default if no additional profile is selected. If the control is missing, check the profile; if automatic handling comes from the default but the control stays hidden, ask Cademy Support before going further.
Choose the classification that matches the service you supply.
Select Save at the top of the course editor. In that same course, reopen Settings > Payments and check the saved profile and Tax Course Type.
Which Tax Course Type to Choose for a Course
The Tax Course Type options appear in this order:
Use Default (...): shows the classification worked out from the course’s type and delivery settings.
In-Person Event / Admission
Training Service
Virtual Live Event
Self-Paced Digital Content
An on-demand course defaults to Self-Paced Digital Content. Other courses with online delivery default to Virtual Live Event; on-demand delivery defaults to Self-Paced Digital Content. In-person, hybrid and other delivery settings default to Training Service.
For In-Person Event / Admission, check the event location. The calculation takes the course date’s country first, then the course’s address country; if neither gives a usable location, it uses the provider’s tax-registration country. An event abroad needs its correct location, and the feature still does not choose that country’s rate.
When Automatic VAT Does Not Apply (Calculation Limits)
Your rate: when the automatic rule charges tax, it uses the profile’s rate. It does not replace that rate with a destination-country rate.
Destination-country tax: for some cross-border online or digital sales to individuals, the matching rule is one for tax in the customer’s country. The current calculation charges no tax for that rule. Contact Cademy Support before using automatic handling for such sales.
Ordinary calculation instead: the ordinary tax-profile calculation applies if the profile’s tax-registration country is missing or unsupported, the customer type is unavailable, a customer country cannot be recognised, or no automatic rule matches. A missing customer country can instead use an automatic rule for an unknown location. Turning automatic handling on does not mean every booking uses an automatic rule.
Orders you create: creating or editing an order in the Admin Dashboard is a separate path. Do not assume it uses the same automatic calculation as customer checkout. Review its tax amounts before saving.
Requests and applications: an order created by accepting a request or an application does not use the automatic rules, and neither does a booking made directly on an On-request course. The ordinary tax-profile calculation applies to these orders, even if the checkout summary showed a different tax amount. Review the tax amount on such an order.
Who Is Charged VAT Under the Automatic Rules
When automatic handling is on for the profile a course uses and an automatic rule matches the sale, the rule decides whether tax is charged. The result depends on the profile’s Country of tax registration, the course’s Tax Course Type, whether the customer buys as an individual or a business, the customer’s country and, in one case, whether anything is entered in the tax-number field at checkout. Orders from requests, applications and On-request courses do not use these rules; see the limits above.
Where a rule charges tax, Cademy uses the profile’s Tax / VAT rate, and only when Enable Tax/VAT for this profile is on. Where a rule charges no tax, the customer pays the price as entered and the tax amount is 0. This is also the case when the profile includes tax in its prices: the price is not reduced.
The lists below cover every automatic rule for United Kingdom and Netherlands profiles. In them, an EU country means one of the 27 EU member states, so the United Kingdom is outside the EU.
For a course whose Tax Course Type is In-Person Event / Admission, tax is charged to every customer, individual or business, in every country. The rest of this section is about the other three types: Training Service, Virtual Live Event and Self-Paced Digital Content. For these, tax is also charged when the checkout has no country for the customer.
Automatic VAT for Individual Customers
United Kingdom profile: tax is charged when the customer’s country is the United Kingdom. No tax is charged for any other country.
Netherlands profile, Training Service: tax is charged for every country.
Netherlands profile, Virtual Live Event or Self-Paced Digital Content: tax is charged when the customer’s country is the Netherlands. No tax is charged for any other country.
Example: a United Kingdom profile has a 20% rate and adds tax to prices, and a £499 course is classified as Training Service. An individual whose country is France pays £499, with no tax. An individual whose country is the United Kingdom pays £598.80, of which £99.80 is tax.
Automatic VAT for Business Customers
For a business customer, Training Service, Virtual Live Event and Self-Paced Digital Content all give the same result. It depends on the business’s country.
VAT for a Business in the Same Country as the Course Provider
Tax is charged.
VAT for a Business in Another EU Country
United Kingdom profile: no tax is charged. The tax-number field makes no difference.
Netherlands profile: no tax is charged when something is entered in the tax-number field, which Cademy treats as a reverse charge sale. When the field is left blank, tax is charged.
Cademy does not check what is entered in the tax-number field. Any entry counts.
Example: a Netherlands profile has a 21% rate and adds tax to prices, and a €500 course is classified as Virtual Live Event. A business in Germany that leaves the tax-number field blank pays €605, of which €105 is tax. With an entry in the field, it pays €500.
VAT for a Business Outside the EU
No tax is charged to a business in a country that is outside the EU and is not the profile’s own country. For a Netherlands profile this includes the United Kingdom. The tax-number field makes no difference.
Check the Customer’s Billing Details and VAT Total
For a published course, open it from Courses and select Open in new tab beside Share to open its public page. Customers should check their own details and the final checkout summary before payment. When investigating an unexpected amount, compare the details used for that checkout with the course’s tax profile and classification. If the course is unpublished or cannot be booked, ask Cademy Support how to check the setup without publishing it or making a payment just for testing.
The checkout uses the customer and billing details supplied. The calculation uses the customer’s individual-or-business answer when one is given. Otherwise, selected or newly entered organisation details identify a business; without those details, the customer is treated as an individual. The country comes from the billing details, with the contact address used as a fallback where applicable.
Customers completing a business billing form should check Business Name, Billing Email, the tax-number field, PO Number and Billing Address. The tax-number label follows your Tax Label, such as VAT Number. An individual using Same as contact details must also check the address in their contact details.
Customers changing their own details should recheck the tax amount and total before payment. If a customer reports an unexpected result or a summary that does not update, investigate before asking them to pay. When contacting Cademy Support, include the course link, profile name, relevant countries, course classification and unexpected amount.
Frequently asked questions
Why is VAT being added?
Check the course’s tax profile and the checkout details. The total can come from an automatic rule or from the ordinary profile calculation when no automatic result is available. Automatic handling is not the only reason tax appears.
Why does the VAT amount change when billing details change?
The customer’s country and individual-or-business details are inputs to the calculation. Recheck the summary after changing them. If it does not reflect the intended details, contact Cademy Support before payment.
Why is no VAT charged to a business customer?
The automatic rules charge no tax to a business in a country other than the profile’s own, with two exceptions: a course classified as In-Person Event / Admission, and, for a Netherlands profile, a business in another EU country that leaves the tax-number field blank. In those two cases tax is charged.
Can a business leave the VAT number blank?
Yes. The standard business billing form does not require it, but leaving it blank can change the automatic rule and the tax amount.
Can I change the tax classification for one course?
Yes. Use Tax Course Type in Edit Course > Settings > Payments when the control is available. Choose the classification matching the service, save and recheck it. If the control is missing, check the course’s profile and inherited settings.
Why is no VAT charged even though Tax / VAT is enabled?
Compare the sale with the cases under “Who Is Charged VAT Under the Automatic Rules”: the customer’s country, whether they bought as an individual or a business, the course’s Tax Course Type and, for a Netherlands profile, the tax-number field. Also check that Enable Tax/VAT for this profile is on for the profile the course uses. When it is off, no tax is charged.
Is automatic VAT included on every plan and for every country?
No. The Teams plan includes the feature. On any other plan, ask Cademy Support whether your account has it. The automatic rules cover UK and Netherlands tax-registration countries only.