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Jones 2021 Vat in Digital World
Jones 2021 Vat in Digital World
RESUMEN (ENGLISH)
Dimitra Koulouri, senior VAT policy advisor at the OECD’s consumption taxes unit, talks to ITR’s Alice Jones about
VAT and GST in the digital economy, including the role of online marketplaces in compliance.
TEXTO COMPLETO
Alice Jones: What VAT/GST problems does the digitalisation of the economy create?
Dimitra Koulouri: VAT/GST is a tax on final consumption based on the destination principle –meaning it allocates
taxing rights to the jurisdiction of consumption. Identifying the place where consumption takes place in a purely
domestic context is rather straightforward, and the same applies to imported goods because border checks
provide an indication of where consumption takes place.
However, when it comes to international trade in services and intangibles, we cannot rely on border controls to
determine the place of consumption. This could mean that market jurisdictions have no nexus or may be unable to
make foreign sellers apply the VAT/GST on services provided to consumers in their jurisdictions.
The result is a gap between the obligation of the domestic suppliers to charge VAT/GST on sales to local
customers and that of foreign suppliers. This issue is becoming increasingly prominent.
Alice: Are you seeing an increasing interest from countries in a digital VAT? Thailand recently chose to introduce
an e-services VAT rather than a digital services tax (DST), for example.
Dimitra: A number of jurisdictions have promoted a VAT/GST digital solution instead of a DST, pending a
G20/OECD Inclusive Framework solution to the tax challenges of digitalisation. The OECD’s VAT/GST solutions
have proven to be low-hanging fruit as governments look to raise tax revenues, minimise economic distortions, and
mitigate compliance and administration costs.
Alice: How does the OECD’s VAT/GST work on digital trade address the problems of a digitalised world?
Dimitra: This has been a key focus of our work for the last decade. The International VAT/GST Guidelines
developed in 2015 set out principles for the consistent VAT/GST treatment of common cross-border transactions
including the recommended mechanisms for the collection of VAT/GST on sales of digital products that were
identified by the BEPS project.
Under those standards, online sellers are required to register and remit the VAT/GST in the jurisdiction where their
customers are located using web-based solutions such as e-registration, e-filing, and e-payment.
The first guidance to promote an effective and efficient implementation of those standards was published in 2017
and concerned the organisation of a simplified vendor registration regime for suppliers that are not located in the
taxing jurisdiction.
Then in 2019 the OECD published a second piece of guidance, focused on the role of digital platforms in the
collection of VAT/GST on online sales.
Those solutions have been developed through an inclusive process that involves not only OECD members but also
policy officials from over 100 jurisdictions, the business community, and academics.
Alice: Increasingly, tax authorities are making digital marketplaces like Amazon responsible for tax on sales that
they facilitate. What is the OECD’s position on this?
Dimitra: Around 60-70% of online sales are made through digital platforms. From a tax authority’s perspective,
making digital platforms liable for the VAT/GST on the sales that they facilitate reduces the costs and risks of
DETALLES
Término de indexación de Asunto: Compliance Costs Online sales Consumption International taxation
negocios:
Materia de publicación: Business And Economics, Business And Economics--Public Finance, Taxation
ISSN: 09587594
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