Merchant Center tax: what goes in the price, by country

In the US and Canada, leave tax out of the price and show it at checkout. In the UK, Australia and the other countries Google lists, include VAT or GST. Google dropped its US sales-tax settings on 1 July 2025, so the old tutorials are out of date, and what is left is one price that agrees in your product data, on your product page and at checkout.

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By Edvinas Ivanauskas How the guides are reviewed

You run this check yourself

Our scanner can’t see inside your Google accounts, so this one’s on you. Work through the checklist below without running a scan.

How should tax be handled in Google Merchant Center prices, by country?

Depends on where you sell, and half the tutorials out there are out of date. Google’s “About tax information for your products” page says that for the United States and Canada you leave all taxes, VAT or sales tax, out of the [price] attribute and show applicable taxes at checkout. For the other countries on that page, the UK and Australia included, the price includes VAT or GST, and the landing page price has to match your product data. US sales tax settings are gone: Google’s 2025 product data specification update ended the requirement to provide US sales tax through [tax], [tax_category] or the Merchant Center tax settings on 1 July 2025. Google’s “Price [price]” page adds two cross-border rules. Show a currency that isn’t the target country’s, and you follow the price and tax rules of the country that currency is local to. And import charges stay out of [price]; state them on the product page or in checkout before the order is placed.

Why this matters

Google's help page “About tax information for your products” splits the world in two. For the United States and Canada it says “Don't include any taxes, such as value-added tax (VAT) or sales tax” in the price [price] attribute, and to “Display applicable taxes on your checkout pages”. For the other countries it lists, from Argentina to Vietnam, it says to provide the price “including any value-added tax (VAT) or Goods and Services Tax (GST)” and to “ensure that the landing page price matches the price in your product data”.

The US half changed in 2025. Google's product data specification update for that year said it would “no longer require merchants to provide US sales tax (through either the tax [tax] and tax category [tax_category] attributes, or the tax settings in Merchant Center)”, and that the old requirement would stay “in place until July 1, 2025”. A tutorial that walks you through entering US tax rates in Merchant Center is describing a requirement that has ended.

Two rules on Google's “Price [price]” page catch cross-border shops. If you show a currency that isn't the target country's, “you must follow the price and tax requirements for the country or region that your currency is local to”. And import charges stay out of [price] altogether: state them on the product page or during checkout, before the order is placed.

Manual check: StoreVerifier cannot see your product data or Merchant Center settings, so compare those yourself. The store side takes one pass: the free scan flags a UK- or EU-facing price that may not include VAT, and a checkout that shows no tax line before payment. What the shopper must see at checkout is covered in tax at checkout. See every check on the misrepresentation checker.

Typical evidence

The UK VAT configuration error

GMC is set as tax-exclusive. Feed submits £29.99 (VAT-inclusive). GMC adds 20% VAT on top, displaying £35.99 in ads. The product page charges £29.99. Every single product in the catalogue has a price discrepancy.

Wrong: tax-exclusive GMC

Feed price submitted£29.99incl. VAT

GMC adds 20% VAT+£5.00incorrect

Ad displays£35.99

Checkout charges£29.99

£6 ad-to-checkout gap on every item

Correct: VAT-inclusive GMC

Feed price submitted£29.99incl. VAT

GMC does not adjust—

Ad displays£29.99

Checkout charges£29.99

All surfaces match

UK stores must configure GMC to treat prices as VAT-inclusive. Find this under GMC → Business information → Tax settings.

The public signals this check looks for:

You sell into the US or Canada and your product data sends a price that already includes s…
You sell into the US or Canada and your product data sends a price that already includes sales tax, so the listing and the product page show two different numbers.
You sell into the UK, Australia or a listed European country and your product page shows a…
You sell into the UK, Australia or a listed European country and your product page shows a price before VAT, with VAT added only at checkout.
A platform setting changed from “prices include tax” to “prices exclude tax” (or back), an…
A platform setting changed from “prices include tax” to “prices exclude tax” (or back), and every product page moved at once while the product data stayed where it was.
You are following an older tutorial that tells you to set US tax rates in Merchant Center …
You are following an older tutorial that tells you to set US tax rates in Merchant Center or to add [tax] to every product.
You show prices in a currency other than the target country's and are not sure whose tax r…
You show prices in a currency other than the target country's and are not sure whose tax rule applies to them.
Shoppers meet import duty for the first time at checkout or on delivery, with nothing on t…
Shoppers meet import duty for the first time at checkout or on delivery, with nothing on the product page to warn them.

What it looks like once it is right

The same shop shows £50 including VAT on the product page, sends £50 in [price] and charges £50 at checkout, with VAT itemised inside the total. Its US listings send $45 before tax and show the state tax on the checkout page.

Common mistakes

Common mistake

A UK shop switches its platform to show prices before VAT for its trade customers. Its product data still sends £50 including VAT, the product page now shows £41.67, and checkout adds the VAT back. One product, three numbers.

Self-check steps

List every country you target in Merchant Center. Beside each, write which rule it follows: tax out of the price (United States, Canada) or VAT/GST in the price (the countries on Google's “About tax information for your products” page). If a target country is on neither list, read that page for it before you change anything.
For US and Canada, check that [price] in your product data is the pre-tax price and that the product page shows the same pre-tax figure. Then take a test order as far as the payment step and confirm the tax line appears there before the shopper pays.
For VAT and GST countries, check that [price] includes the tax, that the product page shows the same tax-inclusive price, and that checkout does not add VAT on top of it. Test one simple product and one product with variants; variant prices are where a tax setting goes wrong first.
Open your platform's tax settings and note two switches: whether prices are entered with or without tax, and whether they are shown with or without tax. Compare both with the rule for each market. One store-wide switch can change every product page at once.
If you ship across borders, decide who pays import duty and say so on the product page or in checkout before the order is placed. Keep duty out of [price].
If your feed still sends [tax] or [tax_category] for the US, you can stop maintaining them: Google stopped requiring them on 1 July 2025. Treat removing them as housekeeping, not as the fix for a price problem.
Keep a record for each market: one product, with a screenshot of the product page price, the checkout tax line and the price in your product data, dated. If a price mismatch is reported later, that record shows which of the three moved.

The two tax models — do not mix them up

UK: prices are legally consumer-facing gross (VAT-inclusive). GMC must know this. US: prices are net, tax is added at checkout. Two completely different configurations.

United Kingdom (VAT)

Model: Inclusive — 20% VAT already in the price

Feed prices: £29.99 (this IS the VAT-inclusive price)

GMC setting: Prices include VAT (tax-inclusive)

Ad shows £29.99. Checkout charges £29.99. No adjustment by GMC.

United States (Sales Tax)

Model: Exclusive — sales tax added at checkout by state

Feed prices: $24.99 (net price, no tax)

GMC setting: Tax-exclusive + state tax table configured

Ad shows $24.99 + tax. Checkout shows $24.99 + applicable state tax. Consistent.

UK stores: confirm GMC → Business information → Tax shows VAT-inclusive configuration. This single setting affects the displayed price for every item in the catalogue.

Questions merchants ask

Does Google Merchant Center still have US tax settings?

Not as a requirement. Google's 2025 product data specification update said it would no longer require US sales tax through the [tax] and [tax_category] attributes or the tax settings in Merchant Center, and that the old requirement ended on 1 July 2025. For US listings, send the pre-tax price in [price] and show the applicable tax on your checkout pages.

Should my Merchant Center price include VAT?

In the UK, Australia and the other countries on Google's “About tax information for your products” list, yes. The price includes VAT or GST, and your product page has to show that same tax-inclusive price. In the United States and Canada, no: leave every tax out of [price] and show it on the checkout pages.

Whose tax rule applies if I show prices in another country's currency?

The currency's. Google's “Price [price]” page says that if you show a currency that isn't the target country's, you follow the price and tax requirements of the country or region that currency is local to. Check that country's rule before deciding whether VAT belongs in the price.

Do import duties belong in the product price?

No. Google's “Price [price]” page says not to submit import- or export-related costs as part of [price], and to state prominently on your site when import charges apply, on the product page or during checkout, so shoppers know before they place the order.

Remediation

Risk signal

The tax rule is the easy part. The headache is a price that reads differently in the product data, on the product page and at checkout, and a single platform tax setting can move all three at once. Re-check one product per market after any tax, theme or currency change.

PriorityAddress and document this finding as part of the store’s remediation work.

EvidenceRecord the current state before each change, apply the fix, then capture the corrected state so every change is evidenced.

Similar cases

Sources

Last reviewed 25 Sep 2026.

That is one issue. The library documents 134.

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