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How to export your Shopify orders for German VAT

The one export we need from Shopify, how to pull it for your filing period, and how we read it, so your figures come through cleanly the first time.

Guide for Shopify sellers filing German VAT · Updated October 2026

Which export you need

✓ Use thisYour orders export from Shopify, as a CSV file, covering the whole filing period.
✗ Not theseA payouts report, a finance or sales report, or a taxes report. Those are summaries; the orders export is the one that carries each order with its delivery country, tax and dates.

Step by step

  1. In your Shopify admin, open Orders → Export.
  2. Choose the dates of the whole filing period: the month for a monthly return, all three months for a quarterly one.
  3. Export it as a CSV file.
  4. Upload it in your dashboard exactly as it downloads, without opening and re-saving it first.

Three things to get right

  • The orders export, not a payouts or sales report. If you upload another Shopify file, the upload screen tells you so by name and shows you where the right one lives.
  • The whole filing period. Orders outside the period are not dropped silently: we list them as "other period" so you can see them.
  • Tell us where your stock ships from. The export does not say which warehouse sent an order. We assume Germany; if you also ship from another country, we ask before anything goes on the return.

How we read your Shopify orders

The export has one row per item, so we read it per order. Each order goes on the return for the month you delivered it, or the month the customer paid if it has not been delivered yet. What legally counts is the delivery date (Leistungsdatum), so if an order sits in the wrong month, tell us and we correct it.

  • Delivered in Germany: 19% and 7% sales go on your German VAT return (UStVA).
  • Delivered to consumers elsewhere in the EU with their VAT charged: shown per country for the One-Stop-Shop (OSS), never on the German return.
  • Delivered outside the EU: shown as exports, with a reminder that you need proof of export (Ausfuhrnachweis).
  • No delivery country (pick-up, digital, gift cards) or anything unusual: set aside, and we ask you.
  • Refunds: the standard export has no refund date, so we place a refund in the month the order was cancelled, else the order's own month, and show you which we used.

The export also has no single file total, so we do not claim to reconcile to one. You see every figure before anything is filed, and you confirm it.

What happens after you upload it?

German VAT for Shopify sellers → Talk to us first

Selling on Amazon too? There is a separate guide for the Amazon VAT Transactions Report, and one for the easybill export.

Frequently asked questions

Is this my final VAT?

It is a draft built from your export. You see the figures, check them against your own records, and our licensed German tax advisor files the return with the Finanzamt once you confirm.

My upload shows €0. What went wrong?

Almost always the dates: the orders in the file were delivered or paid outside the filing period you selected. Export the orders for the exact period you are filing and upload that file.

Do I need to clean up the file first?

No. Upload it exactly as Shopify gives it to you. Opening and re-saving it in a spreadsheet program can change dates and number formats.

What about my other sales channels?

Upload each channel's own report (for example the Amazon VAT Transactions Report) for the same period. All your German sales go on one return.

Is my data safe?

When you file with Vaytax, you upload the export to us so we can prepare and file your return: it is stored on EU servers (Frankfurt region) and handled by the team of a licensed German Steuerberater, who is bound by professional secrecy.

Your orders in, your return filed

Upload the export, see your German VAT worked out with nothing hidden, and our licensed German tax advisor files it with the Finanzamt once you confirm.

See how it works for Shopify