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VATupdate Newsletter Week 32 2025

COUNTING

Some animals are surprisingly good at maths.

Chimpanzees, for example, have been shown to beat university students in certain number memory tests. In one famous experiment at Kyoto University’s Primate Research Institute, they saw a set of numbers flash on a screen for just 200 milliseconds — and still managed to tap them in the right order faster than the students could blink, let alone think.

Pigeons, meanwhile, have mastered abstract concepts like numerical order and quantity. In a study published in Science, they learned to peck numbers from smallest to largest, correctly identifying sequences without ever opening Excel. It reminds me of a test I had to take (a long time ago) when applying for a job as a postman, where I had to sort as many letters as possible by postal code in five minutes. I passed the test, by the way.

These feats are not just party tricks — they’re reward-driven. Apes will crunch numbers if it means peanuts, pigeons if it means grains. Humans? We’ll calculate if it means avoiding a tax audit. The motivation is similar, but the stakes… are arguably higher.

And here’s where VAT comes in. A chimpanzee might excel at quickly recognising the sequence 3, 7, 12, 19, but could it manage “21% VAT on €199,99, offset against €87,45 input VAT, adjusted for the reverse charge on intra-EU services”? Probably not — although given the complexity of some VAT rules, you might suspect they’d get closer than a tired human on a Friday afternoon.

Imagine a pigeon doing VAT returns:

  • Sorting invoices in numerical order? Easy.
  • Knowing whether a takeaway sushi box is 9%, 21%, or just a stern look from the inspector? That’s where the feathers start flying.

If VAT were as simple as “more seeds equals more food,” animals could be serious competition. But with ever-changing rates, exemptions, and place-of-supply rules, humans still have the edge… at least for now.

Until then, it’s comforting to know that while pigeons may be better at numerical order, chimpanzees faster at short-term recall, and AI quicker at most things, only humans can truly master the joy — and pain — of VAT compliance.

And just remember: if you ever get lost, there’s always www.vatupdate.com to provide you with the latest VAT news from around the world.

If you have any comments, questions, or ideas that you want to share with us, please send us an email at [email protected] or leave a comment under the posts of this newsletter on LinkedIn.


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