Frequently asked questions

ePAL ensures the price shown at checkout reflects the true, compliant total cost of delivering goods cross-border, including product price, shipping costs, destination VAT, customs duties where applicable and shipping tax logic. This prevents delivery-time surprises, failed shipments and post-sale disputes.

ePAL is a fully landed cost orchestration engine. It coordinates product classification, VAT logic, IOSS eligibility, customs duty rules, shipping tax treatment and FX validation in real time, rather than calculating a single tax in isolation.

Fully landed cost is the total amount a buyer must pay to receive goods, including product price, shipping costs, destination VAT, customs duties where applicable and any applicable tax on shipping, calculated using destination-country rules.

ePAL is designed for merchants, eCommerce platforms and marketplaces that need accurate cross-border pricing at checkout. Carriers benefit indirectly from cleaner data and fewer failed deliveries.

ePAL supports EU destinations, including non-EU to EU and EU-to-EU shipments.

Yes. Collecting VAT alone does not ensure correct IOSS eligibility, customs duty handling, shipping tax apportionment or FX compliance. ePAL addresses the gaps between these systems.

Yes. DDP requires every tax and duty detail to be correct upfront. ePAL ensures those calculations are accurate, defensible and consistent across destinations.

You remain exposed to misclassified orders, failed IOSS declarations, delivery-time charges, refused shipments and avoidable support costs.

Most plugins calculate VAT only. ePAL calculates VAT, IOSS eligibility, customs duties and shipping tax logic together, using destination-country rules.

Carrier estimators are typically post-checkout estimates. ePAL provides pre-checkout, defensible pricing aligned with customs valuation rules.

Yes. All calculations are performed in milliseconds and are suitable for live checkout flows.

ePAL uses official classification, VAT, duty and FX rules, rather than heuristics, making outcomes more predictable and auditable.

ePAL pricing is transparent and predictable, designed to scale with cross-border activity rather than penalise success.

Pricing models are structured to reflect usage and value, not individual tax outcomes.

ePAL is designed to be accessible to growing merchants, without enterprise-style lock-ins.

Yes. Regulatory changes are handled centrally and included.

No. ePAL automates calculation and decision logic but does not replace legal or advisory roles.

The merchant remains legally responsible. ePAL provides calculation logic and decision support, not legal representation.

No. ePAL does not collect taxes, hold funds or submit returns.

Ensure product data is accurate and submit required VAT or customs filings as normal.

Product price, shipping cost, destination VAT, customs duties where applicable and any applicable tax on shipping, calculated according to destination-country rules.

DDP is a delivery term. Fully landed cost is the calculation discipline that makes DDP work correctly.

Estimates fail when customs apply different rules than assumed, leading to charges at delivery or rejected shipments.

Yes. VAT rates, duty rules and shipping tax treatment vary by country.

Yes. Mixed baskets can trigger different VAT rates, duty exposure and shipping tax apportionment.

Each line item is calculated independently using its own VAT rate (including special rates) and Duty rate, with shipping tax apportioned where required by destination rules.

Calculations are itemised, allowing accurate recomputation when part of an order changes.

Yes. ePAL validates IOSS eligibility in real time using destination VAT rules, automatic removal of any origin-country tax, official EU customs FX rates and intrinsic value thresholds.

The intrinsic value of goods, calculated in EUR using destination VAT rules after removal of any origin-country tax and converted using official EU customs FX rates.

Shipping is excluded from intrinsic value but can affect VAT calculations.

Yes. Destination VAT is included in intrinsic value after any origin-country tax has been removed.

IOSS eligibility must be tested using official EU customs FX rates, not checkout FX. ePAL removes any origin-country tax, converts values using the correct monthly customs rate and applies destination VAT automatically.

The official EU customs exchange rate published for the relevant month.

Without ePAL, the shipment is reclassified. With ePAL, this risk is detected before checkout.

ePAL identifies excise exposure and flags the order as ineligible for IOSS where applicable.

No. VAT on shipping depends on destination-country rules and basket composition.

Some countries apportion shipping VAT across items based on their VAT rates, others apply the highest rate or standard rate to the shipping charge.

Shipping VAT does not form part of intrinsic value but can influence overall VAT treatment.

Where shipping is included in the product price or a basket is sold with “free shipping”, no separate shipping VAT calculation is required, according to EU law or National regulations. VAT is calculated intrinsically as part of the product price. Because ePAL calculates VAT per Product line item, this is compliant with the Regulations.

Yes. Calculations are aligned with EU VAT, IOSS and customs valuation rules.

VAT rates are determined by product classification and destination country.

ePAL removes any origin-country tax and recalculates VAT using destination-country rules.

Yes. Calculation steps, assumptions and applied rates are recorded for traceability.

The merchant remains responsible for data accuracy.

HS6 codes are required for accurate destination-level product classification and subsequent Tax and Duty calculation. ePAL automates identification of correct classification codes from product data.

Yes. ePAL applies country-specific classification depth automatically.

Via API or platform plugins, designed for synchronous checkout use.

Product description, price, origin, destination and shipping context.

Yes. ePAL can optionally retrieve and provide dynamic, real-time shipping rates for any country. This allows merchants to supplement or replace existing carrier arrangements and is required to accurately calculate shipping tax and fully landed cost.

Yes. Accurate classification, valuation and tax logic reduce inspection, rejection and rework risk.

Yes. The price shown reflects the full cost of delivery.

This assumes the merchant has configured ePAL correctly and provided required product-level information.

No. All required charges are included at checkout.

This assumes the merchant has configured ePAL correctly and provided required product-level information.

Taxes, duties and shipping costs vary by destination and, because shipping costs might also change, the tax on shipping will also be different. This is required to calculate the correct fully landed cost (the true total price).

This assumes the merchant has configured ePAL correctly and provided required product-level information.

Yes. The price is calculated using the same rules customs authorities apply.

No. ePAL is a business-to-business service charged to merchants and sellers, not to shoppers.