Value Added Tax (VAT; also known as Goods and Services Tax, under the acronym GST in a number of OECD countries) has become a major source of revenue for governments around the world. Some 165 countries operated a VAT at the time of the completion of the International VAT/GST Guidelines in 2016, more than twice as many as 25 years before. As VAT continued to spread across the world, international trade in goods and services has also expanded rapidly in an increasingly globalised economy. One consequence of these developments has been the greater interaction between VAT systems, along with growing risks of double taxation and unintended non-taxation in the absence of international VAT co-ordination. The International VAT/GST Guidelines now present a set of internationally agreed standards and recommended approaches to address the issues that arise from the uncoordinated application of national VAT systems in the context of international trade. They focus in particular on trade in services and intangibles, which poses increasingly important challenges for the design and operation of VAT systems worldwide. They notably include the recommended principles and mechanisms to address the challenges for the collection of VAT on cross-border sales of digital products that had been identified in the context of the OECD/G20 Project on Base and Erosion and Profit Shifting (the BEPS Project). These Guidelines were adopted as a Recommendation by the Council of the OECD in September 2016.

The International VAT/GST Guidelines present a set of internationally agreed standards and recommended approaches for the consistent application of VAT to international trade, with a particular focus on trade in services and intangibles.

Value Added Tax (VAT; also known as Goods and Services Tax, under the acronym GST in a number of OECD countries) has become a major source of revenue for governments around the world. Some 165 countries operated a VAT at the time of the completion of the International VAT/GST Guidelines in 2016, more than twice as many as 25 years before. As VAT continued to spread across the world, international trade in goods and services has also expanded rapidly in an increasingly globalised economy. One consequence of these developments has been the greater interaction between VAT systems, along with growing risks of double taxation and unintended non-taxation in the absence of international VAT co-ordination. The International VAT/GST Guidelines now present a set of internationally agreed standards and recommended approaches to address the issues that arise from the uncoordinated application of national VAT systems in the context of international trade. They focus in particular on trade in services and intangibles, which poses increasingly important challenges for the design and operation of VAT systems worldwide. They notably include the recommended principles and mechanisms to address the challenges for the collection of VAT on cross-border sales of digital products that had been identified in the context of the OECD/G20 Project on Base and Erosion and Profit Shifting (the BEPS Project). These Guidelines were adopted as a Recommendation by the Council of the OECD in September 2016.

The OECD International VAT/GST guidelines (OECD Guidelines) are the most significant global attempt to coordinate place of taxation rules for cross-border supplies of services and intangibles so that the final consumption of such supplies are effectively taxed on a destination basis. However, given that the guidelines are formally a product of the OECD, it is important to assess their relevance for non-OECD countries which might have different constraints, challenges and needs to their OECD counterparts.This article explores the relevance of the OECD Guidelines to non-OECD countries by examining the rise of the VAT in non-OECD countries and highlighting some of the challenges and constraints that affect the realisation of tax and VAT reforms in these countries. It then examines the context and content of the OECD Guidelines with a view to these challenges and constraints. The article demonstrates that, although the guidelines are a significant step in the efforts to encourage global coordination on the taxation of cross-border supplies of services and intangibles, a number of technical, normative and administrative issues will require further review so that the guidelines are not merely relevant, but achievable for all countries with a VAT.

Given the increasing problem of double taxation concerning value added tax (VAT)/goods and services tax (GST) and the resulting constraints to international trade, it is time for the international community to take action. This book analyses the phenomenon of VAT/GST double taxation and possible remedies. VAT/GST treaties would be one of them. But how should one design a VAT/GST treaty? To what extent do existing income tax treaties already apply to VAT/GST? Can income tax treaties simply be extended to VAT/GST or is there a need for a separate, independent VAT/GST treaty? Can the concepts, functioning, and structure of income tax treaties be used for VAT/GST purposes? What are possible alternatives? What should the scope of a VAT/GST treaty be? How can taxing rights be allocated between the parties to a treaty?

In this article, the author assesses whether Brazil is prepared to adhere to the OECD recommendations on indirect taxation of the digital economy. The author starts with a short description of the OECD International VAT/GST Guidelines in order to compare them with the peculiar Brazilian tax system, which does not limit the consumption taxation to a single tax. The federative structure created by the Brazilian Constitution allows states to tax goods and municipalities to tax services, which has been a major cause of severe internal dispute and double taxation. The digitalization of the economy and the approximation of the concepts of services and goods impose the need to reflect on the adherence of this model to the general principles of the OECD's Guidelines.

Due to the increasing global trade and importance of VAT/GST for state revenues, the interaction of domestic VAT/GST systems receives more and more attention. Cross-border B2B supplies of services are one of the major areas where conflicts of jurisdiction and tax planning structures can arise. This article examines and compares the EU VAT and Singapore GST system on B2B services in the light of the principles adopted in the OECD International VAT/GST Guidelines.

This working paper gives a broad-sweep consideration to the future of VAT in a digital economy, focussing on four broad, interrelated questions: does anything need to be done, and if yes, who should do it, what should be done, and how should it be done? Noting the historical development of the OECD work on cross-border VAT rules for digital and other services - and the expansion and increased attention to that work as a result of its inclusion in the BEPS process - the author answers the first question in the affirmative and then turns to the remaining questions. A strong preference is expressed for continuing the existing multifaceted, multipronged, diffuse approach to improving and coordinating the collection of VAT in a cross-border context. After rejecting the notion of a VAT multilateral tax instrument, along the lines of the OECD Model Tax Convention, the paper concludes with a more small-picture list of specific things that could be done, and/or which currently are being done in some countries, and which could be elevated to the status of international best practice and widely adopted by countries operating a fully-fledged VAT.Though written in 2014, prior to the release of the final version of the OECD International VAT/GST Guidelines and recent or proposed extensions of consumption tax to inbound digital services in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, and other countries, the paper remains highly topical and relevant to the current discourse on cross-border rules for VAT and GST laws.A version of this paper was published as Chapter 5 in Michael Lang and Ine Lejeune (eds.), VAT/GST in a Global Digital Economy (2015 Kluwer Law International Alphen aan den Rijn:), pp. 173-196.

This report provides practical guidance to tax authorities on the design and implementation of a variety of solutions for digital platforms, including e-commerce marketplaces, in the effective and efficient collection of VAT/GST on the digital trade of goods, services and intangibles. In particular, it includes new measures to make digital platforms liable for the VAT/GST on sales made by online traders through these platforms, along with other measures including data sharing and enhanced co-operation between tax authorities and digital platforms.

This publication presents information about VAT/GST rates in OECD member countries as well as provisions for the taxation of motor vehicles, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and fuels.