International tax — handled differently?

Both punt to specialised services for serious multi-jurisdiction tax. The differences are in how easy that integration is.

WooCommerce tax: built-in tax engine handles US sales tax (manual rates, or with WooCommerce Tax / Avalara plugin), EU VAT (manual config or with EU VAT Compliance plugin), UK VAT, Canadian GST. For complex setups (marketplace facilitator rules, B2B reverse-charge, OSS reporting), the standard path is Avalara, TaxJar, or Quaderno — all have first-party Woo plugins.

Magento tax: built-in tax-rate / tax-rule engine is more flexible (per-region, per-customer-group, per-product, per-store-view). Native support for tax-exempt customer groups, tax classes per attribute, and OSS reporting with the right module. Avalara, TaxJar, Vertex have official Adobe-Marketplace integrations.

EU VAT specifically: Magento handles distance-selling thresholds, OSS reporting, B2B reverse-charge natively or via official extensions. Woo needs a third-party (Vatify, Quaderno, EU VAT Compliance) for OSS / reverse-charge — works but adds plugin surface area.

India GST specifically: Magento has native + community modules (GST Manager, India GST by Webkul) covering CGST / SGST / IGST splits, HSN codes, e-Way bill linkage. Woo has plugins but they’re thinner.

Verdict: US-only retailer with simple tax → Woo + Avalara is the fastest path. EU + cross-border B2B, or GST-heavy India operation → Magento is more flexible.