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World

VATupdate Newsletter Week 16 2026

4 hours ago
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48 min read

BUTTERFLIES

Everyone knows the feeling of having butterflies in your stomach. It’s that fluttery, slightly chaotic sensation that shows up right before something big: an exam, a job interview, a first date. Biologically, it’s your brain and gut having an intense conversation, shifting resources, and preparing your body for action.

Oddly enough, that same metaphor works surprisingly well for something far less romantic but just as nerve‑inducing for many entrepreneurs: VAT.

Yes: Value Added Tax.

Stay with me.

Just like those emotional butterflies, VAT tends to appear at the most inconvenient (and sometimes exciting) moments: launching a business, making your first sale, expanding internationally, or hitting a new revenue threshold. And while VAT doesn’t involve actual insects or digestive acrobatics, it does trigger a cascade of reactions that can feel just as intense.

Biologically, when you’re nervous, your brain activates your autonomic nervous system. In business, your financial “nervous system” kicks in the moment VAT enters the picture. Both systems are designed to protect you, but both can make your legs feel a little wobbly.

The trigger for butterflies can be a big emotional moment: anticipation, excitement, fear.

For VAT, this can be a big business moment: your first taxable sale, a cross‑border transaction, or entering a new market.

Both signal that something important is happening.

The sensations may be uncomfortable, but they’re meaningful. They tell you you’re stepping into new territory.

For some people, VAT can feel like that first date over and over again: thrilling, confusing, and slightly terrifying. And honestly, the comparison isn’t far‑fetched. VAT has long been described as the Mata Hari of the tax world:

“Many are tempted, many succumb, some tremble at the brink, while others leave only to return.”

How can you not get butterflies from that?

Butterflies show up when something matters. VAT shows up all the time. So, if VAT gives you that familiar flutter, take it as a sign: you’re moving forward, stepping into something bigger, and your business is very much alive.

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.

To go directly to the region, click below:

WORLD

World

Webinars / Events

 

AFRICA

Africa Region

African customs authorities across countries such as Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, and South Africa are adopting AI to modernize border operations by enabling faster cargo clearance, smarter risk profiling, and stronger enforcement, which will improve trade efficiency but require businesses to raise their compliance, data governance, and digital readiness.

 

Angola

Submission of the SAF-T accounting file for the 2025 fiscal year is optional (no penalties for late/non-filing) but will be mandatory starting in 2026 under the structure of Executive Decree No. 317/20. 

Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo has ended the moratorium on using standardized VAT invoices, requiring that from 15 May 2026 all VAT collected or claimed be supported by a standardized invoice with no post hoc regularization, alongside transitional measures and limited derogations to prevent commercial disruption. 

Kenya

Kenya has temporarily cut VAT on super petrol, diesel, and kerosene from 16% to 13% starting 15 April 2026 to ease the burden of rising global fuel prices. 

Liberia

Liberia’s 2025/2026 Tax Amendment Act strengthens tax enforcement with stronger powers and harsher penalties, raises G&S and telecom-related taxes, increases excise duties on tobacco, alcohol, and sugary drinks (linked to inflation and GDP), and updates non-resident withholding and permanent establishment rules. 

Morocco

Morocco’s Decree No. 2.25.882 requires non-resident digital/remote service providers to register and charge VAT to non-VAT-registered Moroccan B2C consumers for covered services starting June 11, 2026, using defined customer-location/tax-status checks and VAT-compliant invoicing. 

South Africa

 

 

 

AMERICAS

Latin America

Latin America’s long-standing, mandate-driven move to real-time tax compliance means businesses must maintain always-on, high-quality data and anomaly monitoring to ensure immediate authority validation and avoid the absence of post-filing corrections. 

Bolivia

Bolivia’s tax authority (SIN) has restored full (100%) VAT credit eligibility for gasoline and diesel purchases from 13 April 2026 by removing the prior 30% cap. The change is expected to improve businesses’ cash flow, lower fuel-related costs, and encourage invoice-based compliance—especially for transport and self-employed taxpayers. 

Brazil

Brazil updated the NF‑e/NFC‑e technical frameworks (Nota Técnica 2025.002‑RTC) to incorporate IBS, CBS, and Selective Tax by adding new groups, fields, validation rules, and events, with optional use in 2025 and mandatory implementation from 1 January 2026 for taxpayers in the normal regime. 

Canada

The Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGEB), starting June 5, replaces the GST/HST quarterly credit by providing eligible Canadians a one-time payment equal to 50% of their annual GST/HST credit and fully replacing it by July 2026. 

Chile

This update adjusts the 2026 VAT “Subject to Change of Taxpayer” list for foreign taxpayers, requiring specified withholding/declaration/payment actions and allowing affected entities to request exclusion with supporting documents via email, with exclusion timing determined by request date and SII publication.

To issue an Electronic Export Invoice (DTE) in Chile, register with the SII as an exporter via Form 3230, then generate the export invoice in the SII system by entering exporter/importer and transaction details (including goods/services, values, delivery and transport terms, and any foreign currency for service exports) so it is properly registered for customs and tax compliance. 

Colombia

Colombia’s Constitutional Court struck down President Petro’s emergency tax decrees, forcing the government to seek Congress approval before imposing a proposed 19% VAT on online gambling and other taxes. 

Dominica

Dominica has extended VAT and import duty exemptions on 26 essential goods through July 31, 2026, to help mitigate rising costs from global oil price increases and imported inflation. 

Ecuador

Ecuador’s new circular clarifies that a 15% VAT applies to digital services and requires financial intermediaries to withhold that VAT for payments to non-resident digital service providers. 

El Salvador

El Salvador’s DTE system mandates real-time, digitally signed electronic invoicing under a clearance model, requiring invoices (and certain related documents) to be transmitted to DGII/MH for validation before they are legally issued.

 

Mexico

VAT refunds in Mexico are difficult and typically take longer than the legal 40-business-day window because the SAT often requests additional information and performs extensive verification. Success depends on thorough, consistent documentation across legal, accounting, and financial records, with transaction and asset acquisition/equity contribution support that may be more detailed than usual. Bank proof must be formal and fully reconciled, which can be harder when banks don’t provide suitable documentation. Companies should plan for a deep review process and allocate time and resources to ensure every transaction is properly documented and justified. 

Saint Kitts and Nevis

St. Kitts and Nevis has set Discounted VAT Rate Day for April 17, 2026, cutting VAT from 17% to 5% on eligible tangible items (excluding vehicles, weapons, cigarettes, alcohol), while non-tangible items stay at 17%, with key deadlines of April 14, April 16, and May 1. 

United States

Complex, multi-jurisdictional utility construction projects often trigger sales and use tax pitfalls—such as contract tax errors, incorrect party responsibility, missed exemptions/incentives, sourcing mistakes, and weak documentation—leading to overpayment, under-accrual, or lost recovery unless tax management is coordinated across the project lifecycle.

Since the 2018 Wayfair decision, states have evolved economic nexus rules from inconsistent physical-presence-based standards to predominantly revenue-only thresholds, simplifying sales-tax obligations for remote sellers.

Cross-tax filings heighten sales tax audit risk because state authorities use data analytics and cross-state comparisons to spot inconsistencies (e.g., unreported revenue, mismatched taxable sales, or nexus indicators) across different tax returns, leading to more targeted audits and inquiries.

The podcast argues that, amid growing scrutiny of state sales-tax incentives for data centre equipment, states should treat data centre inputs like other business inputs and exempt them from sales tax to better match consumption-based principles while recognizing data centres’ economic and tax contributions.

In most U.S. states, craft fair vendors must register for a sales tax permit, collect the correct local sales tax based on the event’s location, and remit those taxes to the state (with limited exceptions or short-term permits for occasional sellers in some states). Rules and filing requirements vary widely, and failing to comply can result in penalties, so vendors must verify regulations where the fair is held.

Facing a U.S. gas price surge, states including Indiana, Georgia, and Illinois are rolling out temporary suspensions of specific fuel or related gasoline taxes to lower per-gallon costs.

Sales tax exemptions, rooted in early intergovernmental immunity principles, have grown into a complex, state-specific system that determines which taxpayers and products are exempt and poses ongoing compliance challenges and future policy shifts for businesses.

 

 

 

ASIA-PACIFIC

Asia Pacific

China is strengthening a data-driven VAT compliance system where e-invoicing is the central mechanism for invoice issuance, verification, reporting, and input VAT validation, making tight alignment between invoicing software and local VAT rules crucial to avoid lost deductions and greater audit risk.

China and Vietnam signed a customs cooperation agreement on April 15, 2026, to exchange customs information and coordinate joint efforts to combat smuggling and fraud while improving capacity and procedures to facilitate legitimate trade. 

Australia

Australia has proposed a harsher regulatory regime under which tax firm partners and firms can face significant civil penalties—and tax agent fraud would become a criminal offense—aimed at curbing misconduct following scandals like the PwC tax leak. 

Bangladesh

China

China’s new VAT law effective January 1, 2026 keeps monthly/quarterly VAT thresholds at RMB 100,000/RMB 300,000 while raising the per-transaction/per-day threshold from RMB 500 to RMB 1,000 and requiring certain natural-person activities to be monthly aggregated to the RMB 100,000 threshold—significantly affecting foreign-invested enterprises and small-scale taxpayers’ VAT treatment and waiver options for issuing special invoices. 

Fiji

Georgia

India

The Madras High Court held that VAT pre-deposits made by debiting ITC under the pre-GST regime must be refunded in cash under GST under Section 142(6) when the demand is dropped, and departmental circulars cannot deny this statutory cash refund. 

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan has amended its VAT declaration form to simplify VAT refund procedures, reduce required breakdown reporting to two refund types, update the refund appendix with five categories, and extend refund-claim restrictions to initial and liquidation declarations.

Malaysia

In Malaysia’s e-invoice system, invoices must be issued in the IRBM-required electronic format and electronically submitted—along with self-billed invoices, credit notes, debit notes, and refund notes—to give tax authorities real-time access and improve tax compliance despite an initial adjustment period. 

Philippines

The Philippines, under President Marcos Jr., suspended excise taxes on LPG and kerosene effective April 13, 2026, to cut energy costs amid a declared national energy emergency, reducing prices by about PHP 37 per LPG tank and PHP 5.60 per litre of kerosene.

The Philippine Court of Tax Appeals held that while a VAT-registered power generation company’s unutilized input VAT refund claims for zero-rated renewable power sales were timely, only electricity generated from renewable sources qualified and the refund had to meet the applicable legal and documentary requirements. 

Singapore

Singapore will introduce phased GST InvoiceNow e-invoicing, requiring most GST-registered businesses to transmit invoice data to IRAS for near real-time reporting while excluding overseas OVR and reverse-charge-only registrants, and businesses must prepare systems, data, and controls to support continuous compliance and ongoing GST filing. 

Sri Lanka

Taiwan

The tax authority says businesses that collect rental deposits must calculate deposit interest monthly (or annually if the amount is small) and issue a standardized invoice for business tax, with reduced penalties if they voluntarily report and pay the tax and required interest before an investigation. 

Thailand

Amid an energy crisis and weaker-than-expected GDP growth, the government’s planned VAT increase to 10% by 2027–2030 faces uncertainty that could delay or undermine revenue targets. 

Vietnam

 

 

 

EUROPE

EUROPEAN UNION – ECJ

The AG Opinion in case T-397/25 (A&P Deco) holds that a VAT deduction adjustment is required even where a business is transferred and the related building is let back to the transferee, despite the “transfer of all or part of assets” context.

The case T-171/26 (Meori) concerns whether Italy’s refusal to grant VAT exemption to massage-therapy services based on a March 17, 1999 “cut-off date” for diploma qualifications unlawfully creates unequal treatment compared with physiotherapy professionals under EU law.

In EGC VAT Case T-172/26 (bett1.de), the CJEU is asked whether a statutory reimbursement of legal costs for a justified warning letter sent to stop misleading advertising constitutes a taxable VATable “service supply,” as German practice treats such letters as VAT supplies.

The one-sentence summary: ECJ case law on Article 19 of the EU VAT Directive explains when the transfer of a business (as a going concern) allows Member States to treat the transaction as not constituting a supply of goods, with the transferee stepping into the transferor’s position for VAT purposes.

Belgian customs clarified in EGC Customs T-589/24 that Outward Processing Relief only allows a full import duty exemption if the goods were previously exported from an authorized customs office, so exports from factories or unauthorized locations do not permit duty-free re-importation even when processing occurs outside the EU.

The ECJ (C-375/24) held that periodically issued Sudoku magazines consisting mainly of printed puzzles can qualify for Germany’s reduced VAT rate as products classified under tariff heading 4902, whereas Sudoku books remain under heading 4911 and therefore do not qualify.

The ECJ held that transfer pricing adjustments may be treated as VAT-liable consideration for services and that tax authorities can require additional, necessary and proportionate proof beyond invoices for input VAT deductions.

EUROPEAN UNION – ViDA

Blog Part 4 assesses the real long-term costs of ViDA compliance for CFOs, outlining what to budget for, what assumptions to challenge, and what costs to avoid over the next 5–10 years.

Blog Part 5 explains how CFOs should set up governance for VAT and finance in a continuous-compliance operating model to manage ongoing ViDA obligations effectively and sustainably.

At the 51st meeting of the Group on the Future of VAT, the Commission advanced updated explanatory notes on ViDA (platform economy, SVR, and DRR), with delegates largely supportive but seeking clearer scope, better consistency, and more practical examples while key technical and transitional issues remain open pending further feedback and revisions.

ViDA is the EU’s landmark post-1993 VAT reform that will require businesses to prepare for mandatory B2B e-invoicing and real-time digital reporting (plus updated platform-economy and single VAT registration rules) by updating systems and cross-functional workflows to manage immediate compliance visibility and audit risk while capturing cost and operational savings through streamlined VAT processes.

The EU’s ViDA in Motion report says Member States are gearing up for VAT in the Digital Age—starting with a March 2025-adopted, April 2025-effective framework that enables domestic e-invoicing and building toward mandatory cross-border B2B e-invoicing by July 1, 2030.

EN 16931 is the European standard that defines the semantic core data of electronic invoices to ensure EU-wide interoperability, originally mandated for B2G public procurement under Directive 2014/55/EU but increasingly driving B2B adoption.

European Union

The proposal would amend Regulation (EU) No 904/2010 to formalize how Member States report cross-border VAT fraud via Eurofisc and how EPPO (with OLAF involvement) can access and request additional VAT-related information from EU institutions and Member States to better combat fraud.

The European Parliament’s study says fragmented VAT and customs procedures create high compliance costs and legal uncertainty for cross-border firms, and proposes an optional EU “28th tax regime” to streamline VAT-related obligations without harmonising VAT rates, alongside reforms like ViDA.

The European Commission issued non-binding guidance urging stronger, more inclusive customs-business cooperation—through 24/7 contact points, secure anonymous whistleblowing, and proactive reporting—to curb illicit trade and organized crime and enhance transparency and information sharing.

The EU loses billions in VAT mainly due to the VAT gap—unpaid taxes from compliance weaknesses and foregone revenue from policy decisions—estimated via a top-down approach using national accounts, though digital reporting tools like SAF-T and e-invoicing have helped narrow the compliance gap. 

Austria

Belarus

Belgium

Belgian tax authorities say meal-delivery couriers working for platforms are not VAT-liable when they’re classified as employees without economic risk, so they don’t need VAT registration or an e604A form and similar VAT ID requests will be refused. 

Croatia

Croatia has extended the reduced 5% VAT rate on natural gas and various heating fuels (including district heating, firewood, pellets, briquettes, and wood chips) until 31 March 2027.

Croatia is consulting amendments to its VAT Act to enable rapid, temporary fuel VAT adjustments as global energy prices rise, with any VAT cuts closely monitored by the European Commission. 

Cyprus

Czech Republic

The finance minister has proposed amendments to the VAT Act tied to the EET 2.0 electronic sales registration system, effective January 1, 2027, including changes to bad-debt and VAT adjustment timelines and a uniform 12% VAT rate for non-alcoholic beverages served with meals.

Denmark

The Danish Tax Council held that reverse-charge VAT applies to domestic electricity supplied to taxable resellers (including the inquirer) rather than to end users, so the reseller must account for VAT when buying electricity for resale.

The Danish Tax Council denied VAT exemption for musculoskeletal analyses because the service was not a genuine healthcare activity meeting the required treatment and education criteria, with its primary purpose being movement optimization advice rather than diagnosing, treating, or curing specific health conditions.

Estonia

Finland

Traficom’s state subsidy paid to A Oy for newspaper delivery was not included in the VAT taxable base because it was general aid meant to cover delivery losses under service obligations, not direct price support tied to the newspapers delivered or the publishers’ payments. 

France

The 2025 Finance Act will abolish the simplified VAT regime effective January 1, 2027, forcing current users to move from half-yearly VAT filings and payments to the standard monthly or quarterly regime with corresponding accounting, invoicing, and tighter cash-flow management.

Factur X is a Franco-German hybrid e-invoicing standard that pairs a human-readable PDF with embedded XML to meet France’s compliance requirements while shaping how businesses implement and strategically manage evolving European e-invoicing obligations.

Germany

Germany’s Ministry of Finance clarified that VAT exemption for goods supplied before import generally covers the supply immediately before import and certain preceding supplies, provided the goods were not already imported into free circulation in Germany from a non-EU country at the time of supply, with special conditions for supplies into or within customs warehouses to end-consumers.

In two 13 November 2025, judgments, Germany’s BFH clarified that an intermediary acquirer’s lack of personal business continuation does not bar a VAT TOGC, but that the final acquirer must intend to continue the business activity.

European authorities are intensifying the crackdown on costly VAT carousel fraud, raising legal liability and due-diligence burdens for e-commerce firms as they must scrutinize supply chains and partners to avoid involvement in cross-border criminal schemes.

Tax-free export deliveries require close coordination between VAT and customs rules, especially for proving that goods have actually left the country. While VAT proof usually relies on customs export documentation, practice can differ when alternative evidence is needed or when the VAT supplier and customs exporter are not the same entity, raising questions about responsibility, acceptable proof, and deadlines.

Greece

Iceland

Ireland

Italy

VAT entities must, by April 20, 2026, report through the Fatture e Corrispettivi “Gestione collegamenti” service the correct pairing of POS devices with telematic cash registers for January 2026, reflecting the status in that reference month.

Italy’s Supreme Court (ordinance no. 8129/2026) held that in improper commercial triangulations the final Italian recipient may deduct VAT paid on importation, since the foreign-to-foreign initial transfer is VAT-irrelevant, provided there is no tax avoidance or abuse of rights.

Italy’s Supreme Court (Cassation) held that the Abruzzo earthquake VAT refund scheme under Article 33 of Law 183/2011 is incompatible with EU VAT law because it constitutes unlawful state aid that breaches fiscal neutrality and unfairly advantages taxpayers.

VAT is generally due on annual membership fees charged by exclusive restaurants because the fees are treated as consideration for a taxable service rather than a right guaranteeing entry. 

Lithuania

The Lithuanian Supreme Administrative Court held that the taxpayer could not deduct construction/improvement costs or claim primary residence tax relief due to inadequate documentation and abuse of rights, and it confirmed they were the sole VAT-liable person under a joint activity arrangement but unlawfully sought benefits after failing to properly declare and pay VAT on real-estate resale income. 

Luxembourg

On 19 March 2026, Luxembourg adopted DAC8 retroactively from 1 January 2026, requiring crypto-asset service providers to register, perform due diligence and user notifications, and file annual crypto-asset tax reporting under CARF/expanded CRS, with first reports due by 30 June 2027. 

Malta

The Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2026 enacted on March 10, 2026, introduces key VAT reforms effective from 2026, including new registration rules for non-Maltese entities, an open market value requirement for certain related-party transactions, and an expanded scope of deemed supplies to cover additional services.

Netherlands

The court upheld that supplying teachers to primary schools does not qualify for a VAT exemption, so the standard 21% VAT rate applies, resulting in the €585,837 VAT assessment plus €26,390 penalties for 2015–2019.

From Q2 2026, Dutch foreign VAT refund requests must be submitted via Mijn Belastingdienst Zakelijk (using DigiD or eHerkenning, with ketenmachtiging if an intermediary files), and 2025 EU refund requests must be filed by September 30, 2026.

A Dutch court upheld AIH BV’s payment claim against UMS BV and rejected UMS’s argument that a business plan was deficient, dismissing a ChatGPT analysis used as evidence. The judge said the analysis was not reliable or admissible because UMS’s lawyer didn’t provide the prompt, the model’s temperature setting, and it was generated from an incomplete draft rather than the final business plan.

The reverse-charge scheme for subcontracted agricultural work under Article 12(5) Wet OB 1968 and Article 24b Uitvoeringsbesluit OB 1968 applies to “material works” performed by a loonwerker on immovable property (including open-ground crops, soil, and greenhouses), with the scope interpreted broadly to cover maintenance and related services to plants, crops, and other immovable property.

The Dutch Supreme Court held that intermission drinks sold as part of theatre ticket pricing are a separate VAT supply from the cultural theatre admission service. As a result, the alcoholic beverages are taxed at the standard VAT rate, even when bundled, because VAT treats the bundled elements separately unless they are truly inseparable.

North Macedonia

Norway

Norway is expanding e-invoicing rules so that from 2028 mandatory B2B digital invoicing and from 2030 mandatory receipt of e-invoices and fully digital bookkeeping apply, using structured Peppol/EN 16931 invoices and Norway’s EHF format. 

Poland

VAT is generally deductible on business work clothing even without a company logo if the items are clearly distinctive to the company, used exclusively for work (no private use), kept as company property, and properly documented, with the purchase having a direct/indirect link to taxable business activity and no disqualifying VAT Act conditions.

Poland has proposed VAT law amendments to implement the EU’s ViDA directive and modernize e-commerce rules, including clarifying electronically facilitated supplies, adjusting VAT thresholds and OSS/IOSS provisions, extending OSS to certain energy B2C sales, and changing eligibility and regimes effective from specified dates.

Portugal

The government is considering targeted food-basket support for vulnerable families, such as vouchers if prices keep rising, while the finance minister rejects restoring the ineffective zero VAT measure previously applied from April 2023 to January 2024. 

Romania

The RO e-Factura requirement for suppliers/service providers identified by CNP has been extended, making the mandatory invoice transmission deadline June 1, 2026, instead of January 15, 2026. 

Russia

Serbia

Slovakia

Slovakia has proposed raising the VAT registration threshold to €85,000 effective July 1, 2026, to simplify the system and cut administrative burdens for small businesses, pending parliamentary approval as part of broader 2026–2030 VAT reforms.

Slovenia

The FURS clarification, in light of C‑247/21, explains that under Slovenia’s ZDDV‑1 triangular intra‑EU transactions may use simplification and VAT exemption when the intermediary isn’t established in Slovenia, is VAT‑registered in another Member State, and acquires the goods for further supply in Slovenia, with the key criterion being where the transport ends and the relevant VAT identification.

Slovenia has proposed the ZDUPS law to ensure consumers nationwide can choose between cash and electronic payments, with guaranteed basic banking access, provider obligations to accept cash (with limited exceptions), and regulated cash-point availability and fees. 

Spain

Spain is moving rapidly toward mandatory Continuous Transaction Control by expanding B2B e-invoicing under the “Crea y Crece” Law (18/2022) and enhanced real-time e-reporting through VERI*FACTU under the Anti-Fraud Law (11/2021), building on long-standing B2G e-invoicing (since 2015) and large-company SII e-reporting (since 2017).

Sweden

Danske Bank says Sweden’s March core inflation fell more than expected, driven by lower electricity and broad—especially dairy—food price declines, with the full effect of April’s VAT cut on food prices expected to show up in forthcoming data. 

Switzerland

The federal court upheld retroactive customs duties and VAT against X for incorrectly declaring refined sunflower oil as unrefined, finding liability applies regardless of fault or gain and rejecting X’s legitimate-expectations argument.

From 11 May 2026, Switzerland’s new FTA portal will consolidate key online FTA services—combining ePortal permissions and gradually migrating services—starting with myFTA, VAT registration and returns, VAT certificates, radio/TV fees, and withholding tax and stamp duties.

The Federal Council has adopted a proposal to extend Switzerland’s 3.8% special VAT rate for accommodation services until 2035 but recommends rejecting Parliament’s motion to avoid estimated annual revenue losses of about CHF 300 million, arguing tourism no longer needs additional subsidies. 

Turkey

Turkey’s Revenue Administration has updated special consumption tax rates for gasoline, diesel, and LPG (including propane and butane) in Decision No. 10995, effective April 11, 2026.

Ukraine

United Kingdom

The FTT held that lidded wicker baskets included with Clearwater Hampers’ food and drink gift hampers are ancillary and form no separate VAT supply, so VAT is calculated only on the value of the food and drink items.

A VAT tribunal ruled that giant marshmallows’ tax status turns on real-world consumer eating habits—specifically whether they’re “normally eaten with the fingers” more than 50% of the time—rather than on product labels, determining if they’re treated as standard-rated confectionery or zero-rated food.

The updated 15 April 2026 UK guidance explains which delivery/transport costs importers and clearing agents must include or exclude when calculating customs value for duty purposes, and states that locally agreed UK transport rates cannot be used for ad valorem Customs Duty calculations.

 

MIDDLE EAST

Bahrain

Bahrain’s parliament is debating a proposal to zero-rate VAT for civil society groups, but the government opposes it on grounds it violates GCC VAT rules, cuts revenues, and should not replace direct social support. 

Oman

Oman’s Tax Authority has launched the Fawtara e-invoicing portal and started accrediting service providers under a Peppol-based decentralized model, aligned with its 2026 rollout, while publishing registration requirements and refining regulations from pilot feedback. 

Qatar

Qatar amended its Excise Tax Law effective July 6, 2026, introducing sugar-content-based excise taxes on sweetened drinks (with exemptions for drinks using only artificial sweeteners) to support public health goals and requiring affected businesses to update compliance and systems.

Qatar has not implemented VAT, so tourists and businesses cannot claim VAT refunds and must instead comply with existing taxes (including 5% customs duty, excise taxes, and certain 5% withholding taxes) with no VAT refund facilities at Hamad International Airport. 

Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is rapidly emerging as a global logistics hub by upgrading infrastructure, digitizing customs and logistics processes, and strengthening GCC connectivity through initiatives like MAWANI and ZATCA to improve cross-border efficiency, reduce costs, and speed market access. 

United Arab Emirates

Dubai Customs issued Notice No. 05/2026, temporarily extending the transit period for eligible Transit Customs Declarations to 90 days from customs clearance to exit post, effective 31 March 2026, with potential further extensions subject to approval and all other customs/tax rules unchanged.

Effective 14 April 2026, the UAE Federal Tax Authority reduced several administrative tax penalties and updated VAT, excise, and corporate tax compliance rules to ease burdens on businesses while strengthening alignment with international best practices.

 

 

 

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