VATupdate Newsletter Week 2 2026

SHAKE

Here is your weekly update on the latest VAT news from around the world. With, amongst other things, the following highlights:

OECD publishes guidance on e-Invoicing & digital reporting, including a framework for interoperable e-invoicing and e-reporting systems, and a global blueprint for Digital Continuous Transactional Reporting (DCTR). These documents will heavily influence future international VAT system design, especially for countries considering ViDA-style controls.
Multiple updates on 2026 VAT/GST reforms worldwide, including new VAT/GST rules, registration thresholds, digital service taxation, and expanded e-invoicing mandates. International businesses face one of the most reform-heavy years in decades.
Country specific topics, such as the long-awaited reform in Brazil, with a dual VAT structure (IBS/CBS), and detailed implementation rules for the new VAT Law in China.

As mentioned before, 2026 starts with some fast rides, and businesses better buckle-up for the many changes to come.

Which reminded me of last summer, when I went to the Efteling, a Dutch amusement park. There are few moments in life that make you question your choices as much as standing in line for a roller coaster, surrounded by children who have consumed more sugar before breakfast than most of us do in a week. The only reason I was there, was because your friend insists that this particular ride is “life changing.”

I assumed he meant the view. Or the adrenaline.

But no, I found that he meant it literally: He wanted to do this, because the ride would shake his kidney stones loose.

Apparently, some doctors actually 3D-printed a kidney, filled it with urine and stones (there’s a job description you definitely won’t find on LinkedIn), strapped the whole thing into Disney’s Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and discovered that the back row gave the best results for shaking the stones all the way out through your bladder. Science, ladies and gentlemen.

And this got me thinking: if a roller coaster can jolt a kidney stone free… could we use the same approach for VAT?

Because sometimes, VAT rules feel like they’re stuck. Lodged somewhere deep in an annex or implementing regulation, stubbornly refusing to move despite years of guidance, commentary, and the occasional polite plea from a tax director.

Imagine the possibilities.

A roller coaster for VAT.

Strap in a few controversial topics, such as the place-of-supply rules for services, the definition of fixed establishment, and the digital platform deemed supplier rules, and see if a high-speed lap around Space Mountain might finally shake some clarity loose.

But until The Efteling opens a “Centre for Applied Indirect Tax Engineering”, we’re left with more traditional tools: court cases, administrative guidance, and the steady drip of national legislative proposals. Sometimes, that’s enough. Other times… well, you wish you had something with a bit more velocity.

Still, there is a useful takeaway here. The roller-coaster study showed that results depend on where you sit. The back produces more movement; the front, less.

VAT works the same way: your position matters. Two businesses can look at the same rule, the same transaction, and (depending on their facts, systems, and risk appetite) shake out very different outcomes. The rules don’t actually change; the application and interpretation do.

So maybe the real VAT lesson from shaking your kidney stones loose is that if something’s stuck, try changing your perspective. It might just loosen things up.

And if not… at least you had a ride.

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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