If some of your wholesale customers are tax-exempt businesses, you may need certain wholesale roles to never be taxed, no matter which country or state the order comes from.
WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium lets you exempt wholesale roles from tax in three ways: a global toggle that applies to every wholesale role, a mapping that sets exemption per individual role, and an override for a single customer. This article covers each of these settings, plus the related Tax Class Mapping option for wholesale roles that should use a different tax rate instead of no tax at all.
This feature is only available in WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium. If you are using the free WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin, none of the settings below are available.
Requirements
- WooCommerce installed and active, with Enable taxes turned on under WooCommerce → Settings → General.
- WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium installed and activated. This feature is not available in the free WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin.
- At least one wholesale role configured under Wholesale → Roles. If you have not done this yet, read how to add extra wholesale roles.
Exempt all wholesale roles from tax
The Tax Exemption setting under Tax Options applies to every wholesale role at once. Use it when none of your wholesale customers, regardless of role, should ever be taxed.
- Go to Wholesale → Settings.
- Click the Tax tab.
- Under Tax Options, enable Tax Exemption.
- Click Save Changes.
The Wholesale Role / Tax Exemption Mapping section and the per-customer override described below both take priority over this global setting when they apply to a specific role or user.
Exempt specific wholesale roles from tax
The Wholesale Role / Tax Exemption Mapping section lets you set exemption individually per wholesale role, overriding the global Tax Exemption setting above for any role you map. Use this when only some of your wholesale roles should be tax-exempt.
- Go to Wholesale → Settings → Tax.
- Under Wholesale Role / Tax Exemption Mapping, select a role from the Wholesale Role dropdown.
- Set Tax Exempted? to Yes to exempt that role from tax, or No to keep tax applied.
- Click Save Changes.
Repeat these steps to map as many wholesale roles as needed. Any role you map here uses its own Yes or No value instead of the global Tax Exemption setting.
Override tax exemption for a single customer
The Override Tax Exemption section on a wholesale customer’s own user profile lets you set exemption for that one customer, taking priority over both the role mapping and the global setting above. By default this is set to Use Global Option, which follows whichever of the two settings above applies to that customer’s role.
- In your WordPress admin, go to Users → All Users and click the wholesale customer’s name to open their profile.
- Scroll to the Override Tax Exemption section.
- Set Tax Exemption to Use Global Option to follow the settings above, No to always apply tax to this customer, or Yes to always exempt this customer.
- Click Update User.
Tax class mapping: an alternative to full exemption
Instead of removing tax altogether, Wholesale Role / Tax Class Mapping lets you assign a specific WooCommerce tax class, such as a zero-rate class, to a wholesale role’s products. Use this when a role should be taxed at a different rate rather than not taxed at all.
- Go to Wholesale → Settings → Tax.
- Under Wholesale Role / Tax Class Mapping, select a role from the Wholesale Role dropdown.
- Choose the tax class to apply from the Wholesale Tax Class dropdown. These options come from the tax classes defined under WooCommerce → Settings → Tax → Additional tax classes.
- Click Save Changes.
If a role is mapped to Tax Exempted: Yes in the previous section, that role pays no tax regardless of any tax class mapped to it here. Use tax class mapping only for roles that should be taxed differently, not exempted.
Hide mapped tax classes from other customers
Enable Wholesale Only Tax Classes to hide the tax classes you have mapped above from non-wholesale customers, so they can no longer see or select them elsewhere in your store. If a product uses one of these mapped tax classes, customers whose roles are not included in the mapping, including guests, are taxed using the standard tax class instead.
Troubleshooting
I enabled Tax Exemption but a wholesale customer’s cart still shows tax. What should I check?
Tax exemption is applied when WooCommerce recalculates the customer’s cart totals, not when a product page first loads. Ask the customer to refresh their cart or proceed to checkout so totals recalculate. Also clear any page or object cache running on your site.
Why is an administrator or shop manager account still being taxed even though I want it exempt?
The Wholesale Role dropdowns in both mapping sections only list roles registered as wholesale roles under Wholesale → Roles. Administrator and Shop Manager are not wholesale roles by default, so they cannot be exempted through these settings unless you register that role as a wholesale role first.
I mapped a role to No in Wholesale Role / Tax Exemption Mapping, but a customer in that role still is not being taxed. What should I check?
Check whether that customer has a per-user Override Tax Exemption set to Yes on their profile. A per-user override takes priority over both the role mapping and the global Tax Exemption setting.
None of these settings are enabled, but a wholesale customer still is not being taxed. What should I check?
Confirm Enable taxes is turned on under WooCommerce → Settings → General, and that a tax rate is actually configured for the customer’s location under WooCommerce → Settings → Tax. Without a matching tax rate, WooCommerce has nothing to charge regardless of these settings.
Frequently asked questions
Does this feature require WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium?
Yes. Tax Exemption, Wholesale Role / Tax Exemption Mapping, the per-customer override, and Wholesale Role / Tax Class Mapping are all part of WooCommerce Wholesale Prices Premium. None of them are available in the free WooCommerce Wholesale Prices plugin.
What is the difference between the global Tax Exemption setting and Wholesale Role / Tax Exemption Mapping?
The global setting applies the same exemption to every wholesale role. The mapping lets you set exemption individually per role, and any role you map overrides the global setting for that role.
What takes priority if I set the global option, a role mapping, and a per-user override at the same time?
The per-user Override Tax Exemption setting takes priority over Wholesale Role / Tax Exemption Mapping, which in turn takes priority over the global Tax Exemption setting.
Does tax exemption change a product’s tax class, or remove tax entirely?
Tax Exemption and Wholesale Role / Tax Exemption Mapping remove tax entirely for that customer’s orders, the same way WooCommerce’s own VAT-exempt customer setting works. Wholesale Role / Tax Class Mapping is different: it keeps tax active but applies a specific tax class, such as a zero-rate class, instead.
Can I map the same wholesale role in both Tax Exemption Mapping and Tax Class Mapping?
Yes, but exemption takes priority. If a role is mapped to Tax Exempted: Yes, that role pays no tax regardless of any tax class mapped to it. Use Wholesale Role / Tax Class Mapping only for roles that should be taxed at a different rate rather than exempted.
Do these settings apply to Wholesale Order Form as well as the regular shop pages?
Yes. WooCommerce Wholesale Order Form uses WooCommerce’s standard tax calculation, so it applies the same Tax Exemption, Wholesale Role / Tax Exemption Mapping, and Wholesale Role / Tax Class Mapping settings automatically.
What happens if I have not set up any wholesale roles yet?
None of these settings apply to any customer until at least one wholesale role exists under Wholesale → Roles and a customer is logged in with that role.
Will hiding tax classes with Wholesale Only Tax Classes affect products that already use one of the mapped tax classes?
Yes, be careful with this setting. If a product uses a tax class you have mapped and hidden, any customer whose role is not included in the mapping, including guests, is taxed using the standard tax class instead of the hidden one.
Help & support
We have a dedicated support team for Wholesale Suite who knows our products, WooCommerce, and the industry very well. You’re welcome to make use of their expertise at any time, worldwide.
If you are an existing customer please go to the support ticket request form and send us a message.
If you are a free plugin user, please send us a support request on the forum. We actively monitor the WordPress.org support forums for the free plugin and help our users there as best as we can.
