Tax Setup / Scenarios / When your VAT status changes
When your VAT status changes
What Onelo does to subscriptions that are already running when you switch “Do you charge VAT?” in Tax Setup, or when the VAT rate of a buyer's country changes. This page describes Onelo Tax; when Stripe Tax calculates your VAT, Stripe works out the tax on each renewal itself.
The rule Onelo follows
Each subscription records, when it is bought, whether its price was gross (VAT included) or net (VAT added on top) — the Gross / Net choice on the product's Tax & Checkout tab at that moment. A product sold while you are VAT-exempt only offers Gross, so those subscriptions are gross. From then on:
- The VAT follows your current status. At each renewal Onelo calculates the VAT from your Tax Setup settings at that time and the buyer's country and business status, the same way it does at checkout.
- A gross price stays the same. The buyer keeps paying the amount they bought at; the VAT inside it changes, and so does what you keep.
- A net price stays the same before VAT. The buyer's total is the net plus the VAT Onelo calculates for that renewal.
- From the next renewal. A change reaches the first renewal after it. The period a buyer has already paid for is not corrected, refunded or prorated.
Before you save a change of your VAT status, Tax Setup shows how many active subscriptions are affected in each group and what changes for them. An AI agent connected over MCP can read the same text with tax_invoicing.preview_vat_status_change.
Worked amounts — a gross subscription
A Polish seller sells a monthly plan at 123.00 PLN gross to a consumer in Poland (standard rate 23%). Amounts are per renewal, before any discount.
| What changes | Buyer pays | VAT inside | You keep | Buyer is e-mailed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| You become VAT-exempt | 123.00 → 123.00 | 23.00 → 0.00 | 100.00 → 123.00 | No |
| You charge VAT again (sold while you were exempt) | 123.00 → 123.00 | 0.00 → 23.00 | 123.00 → 100.00 | No |
| The rate goes from 23% to 25% | 123.00 → 123.00 | 23.00 → 24.60 | 100.00 → 98.40 | No |
Onelo does not offer to raise a gross subscriber's price when you start charging VAT. Changing what an existing buyer pays is not something Onelo does on its own.
Worked amounts — a net subscription
The same seller sells a monthly plan at 100.00 PLN net (VAT added on top) to a consumer in Poland.
| What changes | Buyer pays | VAT added | You keep | Buyer is e-mailed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| You become VAT-exempt | 123.00 → 100.00 | 23.00 → 0.00 | 100.00 → 100.00 | No |
| You charge VAT again | 100.00 → 123.00 | 0.00 → 23.00 | 100.00 → 100.00 | Yes |
| The rate goes from 23% to 25% | 123.00 → 125.00 | 23.00 → 25.00 | 100.00 → 100.00 | No |
When VAT is added to a net subscription that carried none, Onelo e-mails the buyer as soon as it adds the VAT: the net price, the VAT rate and amount, the new total, the renewal date, and how to cancel: a link to the app's customer portal when the app has one set, otherwise a line telling the buyer to cancel from their account in the app. There is no consent step: the subscription renews at the new total unless the buyer cancels. Onelo sends no e-mail when the total goes down or when a rate changes; the next invoice shows the amount.
A business buyer with a VAT number
When the buyer bought as a business with a VAT number Onelo verified at purchase, the subscription records that. Onelo keeps treating them as a business on every renewal and does not check the VAT number again. Where Onelo applies reverse charge to them, it adds no VAT on renewals: the buyer keeps paying the amount they paid at purchase, whether your VAT status or a rate changes. For example, a net 100.00 PLN subscription to a German business stays 100.00 PLN in every case above.
Invoices
- Invoices Stripe issues. A gross subscription's invoice shows the total with the VAT included in it (“of which VAT”); a net subscription's invoice shows the net, a VAT line and the total. When your status changes, Onelo updates the note at the bottom of the invoice (for example the exemption clause) and the seller numbers at the top for the next renewal.
- Invoices from your invoicing provider (Fakturownia and the others on Tax & Invoicing). Onelo sends the provider the amount charged and the VAT from the same calculation it uses for the Stripe charge, so both show the same VAT.
Changes you make to a product or a plan
- Switching a product between Gross and Net applies to new purchases only. Running subscriptions keep the choice they were bought with, so one product can have gross and net subscribers.
- A plan change is a new purchase. When a buyer upgrades, downgrades or switches between monthly and yearly, the new plan is sold under the target product's current Gross / Net setting and your current VAT status, and the subscription records that.
- Upgrading from a one-time purchase to a subscription is sold the same way. The buyer's business status from the one-time purchase carries over. The VAT rate is set on such a subscription the next time Onelo updates running subscriptions (after a Tax Setup save or a rate change), by the rules above — including the e-mail when VAT is added to a net price.
What Onelo does not do
- It does not raise the price of gross subscribers when you start charging VAT.
- It does not correct, refund or prorate a period that was already paid.
- It does not check a business buyer's VAT number again at renewal.
- It does not change subscriptions bought before Onelo started recording gross or net on each subscription. They keep the tax they carry; Tax Setup counts them as “not re-priced”.