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World VAT/GST News

World VAT/GST News February 2018

By February 26, 2018July 10th, 2021No Comments

 The Ministry of Finance in Bahrain has confirmed that it will implement Value Added Tax (VAT) at a rate of 5% from 1 October 2018, with a VAT registration threshold set for all businesses at US$ 100,000…

Bahrain

The Ministry of Finance in Bahrain has confirmed that it will implement Value Added Tax (VAT) at a rate of 5% from 1 October 2018, with a VAT registration threshold set for all businesses at US$ 100,000.

The UAE is part of the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”) and all of these countries had agreed to implement a harmonised VAT regime by 2018. The GCC countries consist of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman.

Oman

Oman has recently announced that it will delay the introduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) in the country until at least 2019.

Oman is also part of the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”).

Russia

From 1 January 2019, Russia will amend its current VAT legislation to state that non-resident businesses selling digital services to other businesses within Russia will have to VAT register and charge VAT on their supplies.

Currently non-resident providers of this type of service only have to register and charge VAT if they are providing these services to non-business (consumer) customers.

This applies to a range of electronic services including streaming games, music, apps, films, e- books, e-journals and internet services.

Turkey

From 1 January 2018, the Turkish Government introduced a VAT charge on all sales of e-services to consumers in Turkey.

Previously, non-resident businesses providing digital services in the country did not have an obligation to charge VAT on these types of supplies. However, in an effort to remove the unfair advantage that this gives them over resident companies, they will now have an obligation to charge VAT at 8% on their supplies going forward.

This new tax is applied to a range of electronic services including streaming games, music, apps, films, e-books, e-journals and internet services.

The above information was kindly provided by Fiscal Solutions (UK), www.fiscalsolutions.co.uk; contact: [email protected].