Shopify for US Customers: Sales Tax, Customs and Who Is Selling in America

A store on a platform like Shopify is quickly opened up to American customers: add a US shipping zone, set prices in dollars, done. What comes next is the part that surprises European merchants. The USA has no nationwide VAT; instead, each state levies its own sales tax. Duty-free entry for small shipments up to $800, which many shipping models were built on, has been suspended. And if you want dollar payments paid out to a US account, you need an American bank account, and often an American company too.

This guide sorts out the obligations of running your own online store for US customers: who legally makes the sale, when sales tax applies, what customs requires, when a US company makes sense, how payments and payouts work, and what applies to delivery times and returns. Selling through marketplaces follows partly different rules; those are covered in the guide Marketplace sellers and sales tax, and Amazon specifically in Amazon USA: selling from Europe.

1Who is actually selling in your store

On a marketplace, the operator often handles the sales tax. Texas, for example, does not require its own permit from a seller who sells only through a marketplace whose operator demonstrably collects and reports the tax on their behalf; the seller must still keep the records of those sales for at least four years. Your own store is different. There, you are the seller, both to the customer and to the state. The platform provides the technology.

Shopify says so itself in its Help Center. The platform helps calculate sales tax automatically, but it does not remit the tax or file returns unless you use Shopify Tax with automated filing. Determining whether you must charge tax in a given state is, in Shopify's words, your responsibility. There is one exception for the Shop sales channel: according to Shopify, for orders placed through it, the channel collects and remits the tax itself, regardless of your own registrations.

That gives you the first ground rule: for orders in your store, the sales tax is on you, not the platform. This applies to a European company selling directly from Europe just as much as to a US subsidiary running the store.

2Sales tax: nexus state by state

Sales tax is a state tax, often topped up with county and city taxes. A seller becomes liable in a state once they have nexus there. For a long time, that required a physical presence. Since the Supreme Court's decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair in 2018, states may also impose the obligation on sellers without a physical presence if they have an economic presence there; that is how the Texas Comptroller sums it up. The states introduced sales thresholds for this. California explicitly names sellers outside the USA, and Shopify also points out that the rules apply to merchants both inside and outside the USA.

The thresholds vary. In Texas, a seller without a presence must register once they have made $500,000 in Texas revenue over the preceding twelve calendar months, taxable and non-taxable sales combined, no later than the first day of the fourth month after crossing the threshold. California requires registration for sales of more than $500,000 in the current or preceding calendar year, Florida from $100,000 in taxable remote sales in the preceding calendar year. The table summarizes the three states; you will find every state in the guide to nexus and sales tax by state.

There are two traps. First, under some states' laws, marketplace sales count toward the threshold even when the marketplace remits the tax; Shopify includes them in its tax liability display where state law requires it. Second, goods held in a warehouse can create physical nexus. Shopify notes that fulfillment centers can count as a physical presence, which can make you liable in the states where your logistics provider stores your inventory. How sales tax works in detail is explained in the guide Sales tax in the USA.

3Customs: no more exemption for small shipments

For a long time, small shipments could enter the USA duty-free up to an exemption limit, most recently $800 per person per day. The legal basis, 19 U.S.C. 1321(a)(2)(C), allows such an exemption but does not require it; under § 1321(b), the government may exclude goods from it. And it has. Executive Order 14324 suspended duty-free de minimis treatment for most imports from all countries on July 30, 2025. After the Supreme Court ruled on February 20, 2026 that the emergency powers law IEEPA does not authorize tariffs, Executive Order 14388 of the same day kept the suspension in place. CBP, the customs authority, then wrote it into its own regulations: indefinitely for all channels except mail since June 24, 2026, and for postal shipments too since July 24, 2026, with a new informal entry procedure.

What this means for your store is set out in CBP's e-commerce FAQs. The suspension covers goods of every kind from every country valued at $800 or less, through every channel. Every shipment needs a formal or informal entry; informal entry generally works up to $2,500, above that formal entry is mandatory. Genuine gifts and travelers' personal baggage keep their preferential treatment. A gift only counts as one if it is given with nothing in return, not as a freebie added to a purchase.

For your shipping model, this means duties and fees apply from the first dollar, and someone has to file the entry and pay them. If you ship duties paid, you carry them and build them into your price. If you ship duties unpaid, your customer pays on delivery, and with that comes a growing risk that they refuse the package. Which duty rates apply to your goods and how entry works is covered in the guide Exporting to the USA: tariffs, origin, customs clearance. For a merchant's perspective, see also The end of de minimis and your e-commerce strategy. Our editors checked all dates in this section against the Federal Register and CBP on October 24, 2026.

4Selling from Europe or through a US company

Even so, a US company often makes sense, for practical reasons. It can act as the importer, bring in goods duties paid and ship them from a US warehouse, so your customers never get a customs bill on their doorstep. It has its own EIN, a US bank account and its own credit standing. It separates the liability, contracts and returns of your US business from your company at home. And it turns your store into an American store for American customers, with an American address for questions and returns.

That does bring the US company's own obligations: a federal tax return, Form 5472 for a foreign-owned company and, where applicable, taxes in the state where it does business. Which structure fits and how it connects to your company at home is shown in the guide Branch or subsidiary; the importer's product safety obligations are covered in the guide Product liability and product approval in the USA.

5Payments and payouts

According to Shopify's Help Center, Shopify Payments, the platform's built-in payment service, is open to businesses in a list of supported countries, including many European countries and the USA. What counts is where your business is based. If you are not based in one of these countries, or you work in an excluded industry, you have to connect an external payment provider. So a company at home can use Shopify Payments through its home registration; Shopify describes the available payment methods and payout options on each country's page.

Shopify sets its own conditions for Shopify Payments in the USA. Payouts go to a Shopify Balance account or to a full US dollar checking account at a US bank that accepts ACH transfers. Savings accounts, accounts for international transfers only, multi-currency accounts and money transfer services that mimic a bank account are not supported. If you have an EIN, you sign up as a business; if you only have a Social Security number or an ITIN, you sign up as an individual. The descriptor on your customers' card statements must be between 2 and 19 characters long and contain your store name, company name or store address.

That makes a US business account for your company, for example with Mercury, the natural second step after formation and the EIN. The guide Mercury for your US LLC walks you through opening an account with Mercury. Check whether a specific account meets Shopify's conditions before you link it; Shopify itself recommends a full checking account at a bank, because payouts to virtual accounts are more likely to fail.

6Shipping times and returns

For mail order and online sales, the US has a federal rule many European merchants have never heard of: the Federal Trade Commission's Mail, Internet, or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule. Under 16 CFR 435.2, you may only accept an order if you have a reasonable basis to expect to ship within the time clearly stated in your store or, if you state no time, within 30 days of receiving the complete order. If you cannot meet that deadline, 16 CFR 435.2(b) requires you to offer the customer, on your own initiative and no later than the original deadline, the choice to consent to the delay or to cancel the order for a prompt refund. If you ship from Europe through customs, state your delivery time honestly.

Federal law has no general right of withdrawal for online purchases like the one in the EU. The FTC's Cooling-Off Rule in 16 CFR Part 429 covers door-to-door sales and sales at temporary locations where the seller approaches the customer in person, not online stores. You therefore decide in your own terms how long and under what conditions customers can return items, and you are then bound by those terms.

Returns to Europe have a customs side. If you imported goods into the US and paid duty on them, 19 U.S.C. 1313(c) lets you recover part of the duties paid when customers return the goods and they are re-exported or destroyed under customs supervision within five years of import. This pays off mainly for larger volumes. A US return address saves your customers the costly trip across the Atlantic, but if goods are stored there, it can in turn create sales tax nexus.

7Products, brand and labels

Selling online does not change the rules for the goods themselves. Under 19 U.S.C. 1304, every item of foreign origin must be marked with the English name of its country of origin. For consumer products covered by CPSC safety rules, the importer must issue certificates and file them electronically at import. Radio devices need FCC authorization before any marketing, and the rule expressly includes online listings. The guide Product liability and product approval in the USA explains these obligations.

Your store name also deserves attention before you advertise in the US. A trademark registered in your home country does not protect you in the US. The guide Registering a trademark in the USA shows how to file with the US Patent and Trademark Office and why use in the US matters.

Finally, take a look at your prices. According to Shopify, which sales tax applies depends in many states on the customer's location, in some also on the location of your business or warehouse, and where you have no nexus, no tax is charged. A European gross price with VAT built in does not fit this logic; for your US store, you price net of tax.

8Launch checklist

• In which states do you have nexus, through a warehouse, employees or sales above the threshold, and where do you need to register?
• Does your store charge sales tax only in the states where you are registered, and who files the returns?
• Do you ship duties paid or duties unpaid, and who files the customs entry for each shipment?
• Do you sell directly from Europe, or does a US company import, store and ship?
• Do you have a full US checking account for dollar payouts that meets your payment provider's conditions?
• Does your store state an honest delivery time, and are your return terms clearly worded?
• Are all products marked with their country of origin, and do you have the certificates and authorizations your products need?

The overview Expanding successfully into the USA sets the framework for every step. If you also sell on marketplaces, the guide Marketplace sellers and sales tax covers the rules for marketplace sellers; if you ship through suppliers without your own warehouse, see the guide Dropshipping in the USA.

In short

• In your own store, you are the seller: Shopify helps calculate sales tax, but it does not register you and only remits the tax for you with Shopify Tax and automated filing.
• Sales tax obligations arise state by state through presence, including goods in a warehouse, or through sales above the threshold: $500,000 in Texas and California, $100,000 in Florida.
• Duty-free entry up to $800 is suspended for all countries, and since June 24, 2026 also in CBP regulations; every shipment needs a customs entry, and duty applies from the first dollar.
• For US payouts, Shopify Payments requires a full US dollar checking account with ACH; savings, multi-currency and money transfer accounts do not work.
• If you state no delivery time, the FTC rule requires you to ship within 30 days; you set return rights in your own terms.

How we help you

• Sales taxRegistration and returns in the states where you have nexus.
• US market entrySubsidiary, staff, taxes: your start in the US market.
• Form a CorporationThe US corporation (Inc) for growth, investors and your visa.
• US Bank Account OpeningYour own access to the American financial system, even without an SSN.
• Apply for an EINYour company's US tax ID, applied for by us.
• Company formation consultationEntity type, state and tax consequences, before you commit.