Vat not being deducted

Yesterday we receive a report of an issue caused by a change in the VIES service, which prevented the VAT validation from working properly. That has been addressed in the latest update, and the validation logic now works fine.

The article you linked covers all the possible cases of issues with the validation. That is:
1. Invalid VAT number.
2. Valid VAT number, but customer located in the same country as the shop.
3. Communication issues with the VIES service.

If you need to find out the reason for errors in the communication with the VIES service, you can proceed as follows:
1. Enable the debug mode by going to WooCommerce > EU VAT Assistant > Support.
2. Enter a valid VAT number at checkout. You can verify that the number is valid before submitting it, by using the VIES service: https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/
3. If the validation seems to fail, check the error log by going to WooCommerce > Status > Logs. The log file is called wc-aelia-eu-vat-assistant.log and it will contain the details of the call made to the VIES service, as well as any error returned by it. You can then use the information to determine if the call failed, and why.

Thanks for your response.
So the response look fine, there are no errors:

[2020-04-18 12:36:24] wc-aelia-eu-vat-assistant.DEBUG: VAT number validation request. {"Request Arguments":{"countryCode":"RO","vatNumber":"VATno","requesterCountryCode":"RO","requesterVatNumber":"VATno"}} {"process_id":8524}
[2020-04-18 12:36:24] wc-aelia-eu-vat-assistant.DEBUG: VAT number validation complete. {"Country Code":"RO","VAT Number":"VATno","VIES Response":{"countryCode":"RO","vatNumber":"VATno","requestDate":"2020-04-18+02:00","valid":"true","traderName":"-----------","requestIdentifier":"WAPIAAAAXGNSk1YA"}} {"process_id":8524}

So, once i enter a valid number, this appears to be validated through VIES but the VAT field never got removed on the check-out page and the total still includes the amount. I’m using a fresh WordPress install, and only WooCommerce and your plugin active, with theme Twenty Nineteen.

Thanks

The VAT field is not removed when a valid VAT number is entered, it always stays visible. When the number is valid, the EU VAT Assistant sets an exemption flag against the customer session, then lets WooCommerce handle it. In a normal scenario, if the VAT number is valid and the customer is not in the same country as the shop, then WooCommerce removes the VAT from the total.

This is tested and verified with WooCommerce up to v4.0.1 and the EU VAT Assistant 1.13.6.200415. The result of the validation can be easily verified by looking into the log file, where you should see an entry saying VAT exemption check completed., followed by the exemption status true (exempt) or false (not exempt) and the result of the VIES query.

If the exemption is set, but the VAT is still added at checkout, it means that something is either removing the exemption, or it’s causing the the VAT to be added back to the order after the EU VAT Assistant sets the exemption (i.e. there isn’t a bug in the validation or the exemption logic, if that’s was the concern).

In such case, it would be a matter of finding out what is bypassing the exemption, or adding the VAT back. The first step would be to check that the EU VAT Assistant is up to date (for example, the site at https://www.wp-hide.com/ is running an two years version of the plugin), then that there is no conflict caused by other plugins, or custom code from the theme. It’s also important to review the settings. For example, if there is any automatic system to keep the taxes up to date, such service could be forcing the VAT at checkout, even after the EU VAT Assistant sets the exemption.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to be more precise, as the causes of the issue could be many. Going by exclusion, step-by-step would be the easiest way to isolate the cause of the issue. Of course, if you’re covered by one of our support plans, we can also perform such investigation for you.

Thanks for your assistance. Turned out to be some sort of cache issue, after I temporary changed the theme it worked just fine.

Thanks

Perfect, thanks for letting us know. ??