When using the EU VAT Number addon for WooCommerce, the VAT Number field appears on the payment step. Here’s why that’s the only place that makes sense. Consider two scenarios:
(Note: This is NOT tax advice. We are describing a UX problem based on our understanding of how EU VAT Number works. Whether or not EU VAT Number works correctly is a tax question for a tax professional)
Scenario 1: Customer is shipping to a non-VAT country but they live in a VAT country
1. A customer is shipping their goods to the US so they choose US on the shipping address step
2. The VAT Number field does not appear because the billing address is set to the shipping address by default
3. They go to the payment tab and change their country to France
4. Now when they submit they get an error – must provide VAT number
Scenario 2: Shipping to a VAT country, but they live in a non-VAT country
1. A US customer ships their goods to France
2. The VAT Number field appears but they don’t know what to put in because they don’t have a VAT Number – maybe they fill in a fake one?
3. On the payment tab, they set their billing address to US which hides the field – but they’ve already been slowed down by it