Global VAT & Indirect Tax News

China's Ministry of Finance has announced that goods returned from e‑commerce exports will be exempt from import duties, import VAT and consumption tax from 1 January to 31 December 2027. The move aims to support the growth of cross‑border e‑commerce. The exemption applies to goods returned via e‑commerce platforms.

Sweden has launched a public inquiry into mandatory e-invoicing and digital VAT reporting, aligning with the EU’s ViDA framework. The inquiry will be completed by 30 November 2027 and will assess extending e-invoicing to domestic transactions. EU ViDA requires cross‑border B2B e‑invoicing with reporting obligations starting 1 July 2030.

Italy has raised the Intrastat acquisitions reporting threshold from €350,000 to €2 million for VAT‑registered businesses, effective 25 February 2026 for transactions in January 2026. The change, announced in Act No. 84415, keeps the INTRA‑2 bis form unchanged and is enabled by the country’s e‑invoicing platform and EU data‑exchange mechanisms.

Chile’s Internal Revenue Service (SII) will shift VAT collection from non‑resident sellers to Chilean financial institutions starting 1 June 2026, imposing a 19 % withholding rate on eligible transactions. The first list of non‑compliant digital VAT taxpayers will be published 15 June 2026, with financial institutions required to file monthly Form 29 and a semiannual report by the last business day of February 2027.

South Africa’s 2026 Budget will focus on whether VAT can keep pace with a digitised economy rather than on rate hikes. A proposed two‑percentage‑point increase was tabled and rejected in 2025, and the Finance Minister confirmed that VAT rate increases for 2025/26 and 2026/27 have been dropped. The Treasury is examining how digital services supplied by foreign providers are taxed and whether the current framework captures modern consumption.

The Ivorian tax authority released the annex to the 2026 Finance Law, introducing several tax changes. Measures include extending a 7.5% withholding tax on non‑commercial profits for certain non‑salaried participants, eliminating VAT exemptions for oil exploration, agriculture, manufacturing and packaging and applying the standard 18% VAT rate, raising the tourism development tax to 2.5% from 1.5%, imposing a tax on foreign digital service platforms without a physical presence, and reducing the property tax to 13% from 15%.