The WooCommerce settings allow you to define the default customer tax location (“Calculate tax based on” -> “Shop base address“). In this case, when a guest customer enters the checkout, tax will be calculated based on the store address.
The problem is that this option is unusual – businesses require the “Calculate tax based on” -> “Customer billing address” option in most cases.
So, today, we will be setting the default tax location when “Customer billing address” has been chosen AND the customer is either logged out (so, no billing address is set) or logged in but have no saved address (for example, a brand new customer). Enjoy!
It’s unusual to pick the “Shop base address” option for establishing the tax amounts. The snippet below will define a default tax location when “Customer billing address” is chosen instead and the customer has no billing address yet.
PHP Snippet: Set Customer Default Billing Country for Tax Calculations @ WooCommerce Checkout
/** * @snippet Set Customer Default Tax Location * @how-to Get CustomizeWoo.com FREE * @author Rodolfo Melogli * @compatible WooCommerce 8 * @donate $9 https://businessbloomer.com/bloomer-armada/ */ add_filter( ‘woocommerce_get_tax_location’, ‘bbloomer_customer_default_tax_location’, 9999, 3 ); function bbloomer_customer_default_tax_location( $location, $tax_class, $customer ) { if ( $customer && ! $customer->get_billing_country() ) { return array( ‘US’, ”, ”, ” ); } return $location; }
Note: you can even set the default state, postcode and city by using the 3 array values after the country code e.g. ( ‘US’, ‘CA’, ‘90210’, ‘Beverly Hills’ )
Where to add custom code?
You should place PHP snippets at the bottom of your child theme functions.php file and CSS at the bottom of its style.css file. Make sure you know what you are doing when editing such files – if you need more guidance, please take a look at my guide “Should I Add Custom Code Via WP Editor, FTP or Code Snippets?” and my video tutorial “Where to Place WooCommerce Customization?”
Does this snippet (still) work?
Please let me know in the comments if everything went as expected. I would be happy to revise the snippet if you report otherwise (please provide screenshots). I have tested this code with Storefront theme, the WooCommerce version listed above and a WordPress-friendly hosting.
If you think this code saved you time & money, feel free to join 17,000+ WooCommerce Weekly subscribers for blog post updates and 250+ Business Bloomer supporters for 365 days of WooCommerce benefits. Thank you in advance!
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Rodolfo Melogli
Business Bloomer Founder
Author, WooCommerce expert and WordCamp speaker, Rodolfo has worked as an independent WooCommerce freelancer since 2011. His goal is to help entrepreneurs and developers overcome their WooCommerce nightmares. Rodolfo loves travelling, chasing tennis & soccer balls and, of course, wood fired oven pizza.
