# How do I set up my FBM costs and VAT in Nova?

Source: https://novadata.io/docs/using-nova/set-up-fbm-and-vat
Checked against Nova's code on 2026-11-09

Open **Costs & Taxes › FBM Costs** in the left menu and give the ★ **Primary** card of each region a shipping rate. Then open **Costs & Taxes › VAT** and, on each card marked **Tax calculated by you**, set the category of your reduced-rate and zero-rated products. How Nova uses them: [FBM costs](/docs/profit-and-costs/fbm-costs), [VAT](/docs/profit-and-costs/vat).

Both pages serve Seller Central accounts. Admins and Workspace owners edit them; a Workspace member sees **Ask to be Workspace owner**.

## In which order do I fill the FBM Costs page?

Cards are grouped by region, one per country you shipped to in the last 24 months.

1. On each region's ★ **Primary** card (**Mandatory input**), click **+ Add rate** next to **Shipping**, then Packing and Picking if you pay them. Cards ticked **Use … costs** read these rates. **Rest of world** prices every other country.
2. For a country that costs more, click **Enter own costs** on its card.
3. For a product that costs more, select its destination card, then click the product's row under **Per-product FBM costs**.

The form asks for **From a specific date** or **All orders** since day one, the amounts, and **Shipping charged**: **per order** or **per unit**. Packing is per order, picking per unit, and a product's shipping follows its destination's rule. Click **Add period**. A period reads **Ongoing** until a newer one starts, then **Ended**.

| Card | Means |
|---|---|
| Dashed | Nothing prices this destination yet |
| Grey amounts, **Use … costs** ticked | Uses its region's Primary rates |
| **Enter own costs** ticked | Has its own rates |

## How do I set VAT categories?

Click a region card. Under **Tax calculated by Amazon**, the **VAT Category** column is read-only. Under **Tax calculated by you**, click a product's cell:

- EU: search Amazon's categories, such as `A_BOOKS_GEN`.
- UK and Mexico: pick **Standard rate**, **Reduced rate** or **Zero-rated**.

**Standard rate · default** means no category: Nova applies the last rate Amazon charged on the product, else the country's standard rate. **Missing VAT** lists these products.

The account's default category has no button: set it from your AI assistant, for example `A_NOVA_ZERO` if you sell VAT-free or handle VAT outside Nova.

## Can my AI assistant do it?

Yes. Click **Copy the prompt** in the banner of either page, then drop your carrier grid or product list into Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini connected to Nova ([Connect Claude](/amazon-ai-agents/connect-claude)). Nothing is saved until you confirm the preview.

## Common mistakes

| You see | Why | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Product rates gone after **Upload FBM costs** | For each destination in the file, the upload replaces all its product rates | Keep every row you want in the file |
| FBM orders to a country look too profitable | Its card is dashed: no rate | Rate its Primary card |
| **Use … costs** asks to replace periods | The card's own periods are deleted and its past orders repriced | Confirm only if the costs really match |
| Past months unchanged after a VAT change | VAT changes reach orders processed after the next refresh | Ask support if past months matter |

## Ask your AI

> Here is my carrier grid. Set my FBM shipping rates per destination from it, show me the preview, and wait for my go before saving.