This blog was last updated on March 11, 2019
Country-by-Country News
South Africa Proposes Amendment to Change VAT Rate
South Africa’s Minister of Finance has published a draft amendment, which if enacted, would change South Africa’s VAT rate back to 14%. This proposed draft amendment, which is open for public comment, would revert the rate back to 14% and currently has a retroactive effective date to April 1, 2018. The proposed amendment comes after the recent increase in the VAT rate to 15%, which was effective April 1, 2018. The draft amendment can be seen here, and the open public comment period lasts until August 16, 2018.
Italy Partially Postpones e-Invoicing Mandate for Supplies of Fuel at Roadside Stations
The Italian tax administration has announced the postponement of the early implementation of the electronic invoicing mandate for roadside fuel and service stations. According to Regulation Prot. n. 89757/2018, all taxpayers in the business of supplying fuel and gasoline intended to be used as motor fuel, or supplying services as subcontractors under agreements with public bodies, were required to start issuing electronic invoices in July 1, 2018. However, this mandate has been partially postponed until January 1, 2019 for roadside fuel and service stations. More information about this issue can be found here.
UK Publishes Additional Guidance for Making Tax Digital Initiative
On Friday, July 13, 2018, HMRC released additional information regarding the Making Tax Digital initiative, which is currently set to go into effect in the United Kingdom on April 1, 2019. This new information, contained in VAT Notice 700/22, includes further details on the requirements of digital records and digital links where data transfer is made between software programs, products, or applications, as well as what constitutes functionally compatible software. In addition, HMRC published a Communications Pack, which is intended to help business stakeholders with the Making Tax Digital Initiative. This Communication Pack can be found here, and offers background information, timeline dates, as well as key messages from HMRC for businesses that will be impacted.