{"id":1754,"date":"2026-05-18T14:04:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T12:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newcraft.dev\/posts\/canary-islands-vat-exemption-in-shopify-checkout-remove-vat-by-postcode\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T15:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:10:10","slug":"canary-islands-vat-exemption-in-shopify-checkout-remove-vat-by-postcode","status":"publish","type":"marketing-post","link":"https:\/\/newcraft.dev\/nl\/posts\/canary-islands-vat-exemption-in-shopify-checkout-remove-vat-by-postcode\/","title":{"rendered":"Canary Islands VAT Exemption in Shopify Checkout: Remove VAT by Postcode"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

TL;DR:<\/strong> Shopify often treats the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla like the rest of Spain because the checkout country is still Spain<\/strong>. For VAT, that is not always enough. These Spanish territories sit outside the normal Spanish VAT area, so stores may need to remove Spanish VAT when the delivery address matches their postcode ranges: 35xxx<\/strong>, 38xxx<\/strong>, 51xxx<\/strong> or 52xxx<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Shopify Problem With Spanish VAT-Excluded Territories<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For many Shopify stores, the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla look like normal Spanish addresses in checkout. The buyer selects Spain, enters a Spanish postcode, and Shopify sees the country code as ES<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is fine for shipping, but it can be wrong for VAT. Mainland Spain is part of the EU VAT area. The Canary Islands are part of Spain, but they are not part of the EU VAT area. The European Commission lists the Canary Islands separately from Spain for VAT rules<\/a>, and the Spanish Tax Agency explains that Spanish VAT applies to the Peninsula and Balearic Islands<\/a>, excluding the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you sell from a Dutch, Spanish, German, Belgian or other EU Shopify store to customers in the Canary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla, you may need a way to distinguish those orders from normal mainland Spain orders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which Spanish Postcodes Should Remove VAT?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The app detects Spanish VAT-excluded territory delivery addresses by postcode. These are the postcode ranges used:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n
Postcode range<\/th>\n Territory or province<\/th>\n Main area covered<\/th>\n VAT handling<\/th>\n <\/tr>\n <\/thead>\n
35000-35999<\/strong><\/td>\n Las Palmas<\/td>\n Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura<\/td>\n Remove Spanish VAT<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
38000-38999<\/strong><\/td>\n Santa Cruz de Tenerife<\/td>\n Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro<\/td>\n Remove Spanish VAT<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
51000-51999<\/strong><\/td>\n Ceuta<\/td>\n Ceuta<\/td>\n Remove Spanish VAT<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n
52000-52999<\/strong><\/td>\n Melilla<\/td>\n Melilla<\/td>\n Remove Spanish VAT<\/td>\n <\/tr>\n <\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In short: if the checkout delivery country is Spain<\/strong> and the postcode starts with 35<\/strong>, 38<\/strong>, 51<\/strong> or 52<\/strong> and has five digits, it is treated as a Spanish VAT-excluded territory delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Example postcodes that trigger the exemption:<\/p>\n\n\n\n