Many of our eCommerce clients use Shopify as their primary sales platform, so our team has gained broad experience troubleshooting common issues and helping prevent problems before they arise.
As part of your onboarding, you’ll grant us Partner Access (also called collaborator access) to your Shopify store so we can better support you. Connecting your store to Numeral allows us to pull the data we need to manage filings and monitor your company’s Nexus. However, this connection alone does not give us the ability to adjust your tax settings. For tasks like product categorization or troubleshooting more complex issues, Partner Access is required.
This article covers:
How our team can assist you
Key actions you can take and tax settings you can manage in Shopify
Common issues we’ve seen with the Shopify Tax Engine
We understand some clients may have reservations about granting access to their stores—we get it! We do not need full access. Our partner requests are limited to the permissions necessary to troubleshoot and ensure accurate tax collection.
How Shopify Partner Access Helps Us Support You
Granting Shopify Partner Access allows Numeral to view specific areas of your Shopify admin dashboard so we can better support your store. With this access, we can help you with:
Viewing analytics & troubleshooting discrepancies: Reviewing reports, identifying issues, and creating custom reports to simplify reconciliation.
Product categorization: Verifying or assisting with categorization to ensure taxes are calculated correctly (note: this is separate from SKUs).
Managing tax collection settings: Enabling or disabling tax collection for accounts that are newly opened or closed.
⚠️ Important: Numeral does not set tax rates. Shopify’s Tax Engine determines rates based on shipping location and product category. As a result, we cannot investigate tax engine failures or advanced Shopify settings beyond what affects your filings. Our support is limited to the services outlined above.
How do I grant Numeral Shopify partner access?
Most stores now require a Shopify collaborator code. Here’s how it works:
Go to Settings > Users and Permissions > Collaborators in your Shopify admin.
Once there, locate your 4-digit collaborator code and share it with our team so we can submit the request.
We’ll request access using your collaborator code. You’ll then receive:
An email with a link to accept the request
A request in your Users and Permissions section in Shopify from Numeral (concierge@numeralhq.com)
💡 Can’t Find Your Shopify Collaborator Code or Grant Access?
This usually occurs when the person trying to grant access doesn’t have the necessary permissions. If you’re not the Shopify store owner, ask the owner to provide the collaborator code and grant access.
Note: If you’ve been with Numeral for a while and we need to send a new access request, ensure there are no @numeralhq.com emails listed under Users, as this will prevent us from submitting the request.
Product Categorization
During onboarding, we perform a one-time review of your product categories. After that, most clients handle product categorization themselves, though we’re happy to assist if you reach out.
Shopify calculates sales tax based on product categories and the customer’s shipping address. Adding new products without proper categorization can lead to inaccurate tax collection, so we recommend regularly reviewing your store to ensure everything is set up correctly.
How to review product categorization in your Numeral dashboard:
In your dashboard, go to Connections > Manage (under Settings) > Products.
Click All Products to view everything, or Uncategorized to see uncategorized items.
⚠️ Important: All products must be categorized to ensure accurate tax collection.
Shopify Product and Variant Settings
Sometimes newly added products or variants may default to not charging tax. Our team doesn’t have access to change these settings directly, but we’ve worked with Shopify to provide guidance on how you can review and update them yourself.
Reviewing or Updating “Charge Taxes on This Product” for a Single Product
Reviewing or Updating “Charge Taxes on This Product” for a Single Product
From your Shopify admin, go to Products.
Click the product you want to edit.
In the Pricing section, check or uncheck Charge taxes on this product.
Click Save.
Reviewing or Updating “Charge Taxes on This Product” for Multiple Products
Reviewing or Updating “Charge Taxes on This Product” for Multiple Products
From your Shopify admin, go to Products.
Select the products you want to update using the checkboxes.
Click Bulk edit.
If the Charge taxes column isn’t visible, click Columns and select Charge taxes.
Check or uncheck the box for each product as needed.
Click Save.
Reviewing or Updating “Charge Tax on This Variant” for a Single Variant
Reviewing or Updating “Charge Tax on This Variant” for a Single Variant
From your Shopify admin, go to Products.
Click the product containing the variant.
In the Variants section, click the variant you want to edit.
In the Pricing section, check or uncheck Charge tax on this variant.
Click Save.
Reviewing or Updating “Charge Tax on This Variant” for Multiple Variants
Reviewing or Updating “Charge Tax on This Variant” for Multiple Variants
From your Shopify admin, go to Products.
Select the product you want to edit.
In the Variants section, select the variants you want to update using the checkboxes.
Click Bulk edit and update the Charge tax on this variant setting as needed.
Click Save.
Common Tax Engine Issues in Shopify
Even with proper settings, Shopify tax collection may occasionally be inaccurate. Shopify has confirmed that these issues can happen due to:
Fallback tax engine: If Shopify Tax is unavailable due to latency or downtime, the system defaults to a less accurate tax engine that only uses ZIP codes.
Incomplete customer addresses: Missing address details can cause incorrect calculations.
Unsupported payment methods: Deferred payments or express checkouts (e.g., Apple Pay, PayPal Express) may not always trigger Shopify Tax correctly.
For example, one client saw tax inconsistencies primarily on orders paid via Apple Pay, which Shopify Tax did not fully support at the time.
⚠️ If you encounter issues like these, you will need to contact Shopify directly for in-depth troubleshooting, as these cases are outside our support scope.
💡 Additional resources with more detailed guidance:
Shopify <> Numeral Collection > All Shopify articles in our Help Center
Shopify Apps <> Numeral > Learn how to set up and troubleshoot tax collection when using common Shopify apps, such as Recharge and Loop Returns.
💬 Questions? Reach out to our team anytime via the messaging widget in your Numeral dashboard.