The Modern VAT


Book Description

Value-added tax, or VAT, first introduced less than 50 years ago, is now a pivotal component of tax systems around the world. The rapid and seemingly irresistible rise of the VAT is probably the most important tax development of the latter twentieth century, and certainly the most breathtaking. Written by a team of experts from the IMF, this book examines the remarkable spread and current reach of the innovative tax and draws lessons about the design and implementation of the VAT, as experienced by different countries around the world. How efficient is it as a tax, is it fair, and is it suitable for all countries? These are among the questions raised. This highly informative and well-researched book also looks at the likely future of the tax.




International VAT/GST Guidelines


Book Description

This paper set forth internationally agreed principles and standards for the value added tax (VAT) treatment of the most common types of international transactions, with a particular focus on trade in services and intangibles. Its aim is to minimise inconsistencies in the application of VAT in a cross-border context with a view to reducing uncertainty and risks of double taxation and unintended non-taxation in international trade. It also includes the recommended principles and mechanisms to address the challenges for the collection of VAT on crossborder sales of digital products that had been identified in the context of the OECD/G20 Project on Base and Erosion and Profit Shifting (the BEPS Project).




How to Manage Value-Added Tax Refunds


Book Description

The value-added tax (VAT) has the potential to generate significant government revenue. Despite its intrinsic self-enforcement capacity, many tax administrations find it challenging to refund excess input credits, which is critical to a well-functioning VAT system. Improperly functioning VAT refund practices can have profound implications for fiscal policy and management, including inaccurate deficit measurement, spending overruns, poor budget credibility, impaired treasury operations, and arrears accumulation.This note addresses the following issues: (1) What are VAT refunds and why should they be managed properly? (2) What practices should be put in place (in tax policy, tax administration, budget and treasury management, debt, and fiscal statistics) to help manage key aspects of VAT refunds? For a refund mechanism to be credible, the tax administration must ensure that it is equipped with the strategies, processes, and abilities needed to identify VAT refund fraud. It must also be prepared to act quickly to combat such fraud/schemes.




Estimating VAT Pass Through


Book Description

This paper estimates the pass through of VAT changes to consumer prices, using a unique dataset providing disaggregated, monthly data on prices and VAT rates for 17 Eurozone countries over 1999-2013. Pass through is much less than full on average, and differs markedly across types of VAT change. For changes in the standard rate, for instance, final pass through is about 100 percent; for reduced rates it is significantly less, at around 30 percent; and for reclassifications it is essentially zero. We also find: differing dynamics of pass through for durables and non-durables; no significant difference in pass through between rate increases and decreases; signs of non-monotonicity in the relationship between pass through and the breadth of the consumption base affected; and indications of significant anticipation effects together with some evidence of lagged effects in the two years around reform. The results are robust against endogeneity and attenuation bias.







The Value-added Tax


Book Description

Updated discussion on the value-added tax system with reference to the business transfer tax from theoretical point of view considered.




Structural Transformation and Tax Efficiency


Book Description

Structural transformation has resulted in an increasing share of services in aggregate value-added in advanced and developing countries across the world. We analyze the impact of this shift into services on countries’ efficiency in collecting the value-added tax (VAT). The analysis is based on two alternative measures of VAT efficiency: (1) the VAT C-efficiency, using a broad panel of 134 countries over the period 1970-2014; and (2) the VAT gap using a more granular, proprietary dataset that draws on the results of IMF’s Revenue Administraion-Gap Analysis Program covering 24 countries over the period 2004-2016. We find that a higher share of services in aggregate value-added reduces the VAT efficiency, and that this adverse effect is mainly a result of a rise of non-tradable services, which in turn contributes to a narrowing of the VAT base.




Electronic Fiscal Devices (EFDs) An Empirical Study of their Impact on Taxpayer Compliance and Administrative Efficiency


Book Description

Several administrations have adopted electronic fiscal devices (EFDs) in their quest to combat noncompliance, particularly as regards sales and the value-added tax (VAT) payable on sales. The introduction of EFDs typically requires considerable effort and has costs both for the administration and for the taxpayers that are affected by the requirements of the new rules. Despite their widespread use, and their considerable cost, EFDs can only be effective if they are a part of a comprehensive compliance improvement strategy that clearly identifies risks for the different segments of taxpayers and envisages measures to mitigate these risks. EFDs should not be construed as the “silver bullet” for improving tax compliance: as with any other technological improvement the deployment of fiscal devices alone cannot achieve meaningful results, whether in terms of revenue gains or permanent compliance improvements.




Consumption Tax Trends 2020 VAT/GST and Excise Rates, Trends and Policy Issues


Book Description

Consumption Tax Trends provides information on Value Added Taxes/Goods and Services Taxes (VAT/GST) and excise duty rates in OECD member countries. It also contains information about international aspects of VAT/GST developments and the efficiency of this tax. It describes a range of other consumption taxation provisions on tobacco, alcoholic beverages, motor vehicles and aviation fuels.




The Rise of the Value-Added Tax


Book Description

Explores how the value-added tax (VAT) has risen from relative obscurity to become one of the world's most dominant revenue instruments.