Compliance Services

Australia has proposed a Business E-invoicing Right (BER) to encourage wider business adoption of e-invoicing. Under this proposal, businesses are legally obliged to adopt and send e‑invoices if requested by their customers. BER will be implemented first on large businesses by July 1, 2023, then on medium businesses by July 1, 2024, and on small businesses by July 1, 2025.

The Australian government has initiated a public consultation to seek stakeholder opinions on BER and further measures to support business adoption of e-invoicing. It will not be long before we learn more about the BER project.

The Vietnamese government released Decree 15/2022/ND-CP on 28 January 2022 providing tax exemptions and reductions under Resolution 43/2022/QH15, this aims to support social-economic recovery and development.

One of the key points of this Decree is the temporary reduction on the standard VAT rate:

• The VAT for goods and services is reduced from 10% to 8%.
• This change will be effective from 1 February 2022 to 31 December 2022.

Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority (ZATCA) published a further announcement on its official website on 30 January 2022 regarding penalties for VAT violations. Below is a summary of the key changes:

• When field violations are committed, ZATCA will issue a notice the taxpayers without issuing any penalties. However, if violation continues after the first notice, a fine of 1000 SAR will be imposed and the amount will increase gradually for further violations.
• Granting the violator an appropriate period of three months to correct the violation.
• Twelve months is the cut-off limit for a non-recurring violation by the violating taxpayer, provided that the violation is treated and not committed again within the twelve months.
• This decision will take effect from January 30, 2022.

In addition, ZATCA published a simplified guide providing more information on the reclassification of VAT violations and examples relevant in every use case.

In the Budget 2022, the Minister of Finance in Singapore announced two steps to increase the GST rate:

• from 7% to 8% with effect from 1 Jan 2023.
• from 8% to 9% with effect from 1 Jan 2024.

The IRAS (Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore) stated that the increased revenue from GST will be used to fund healthcare expenditures for seniors in the country.

Moreover, the GST treatment for travel arranging services will be updated from 1 January 2023, the basis for determining whether zero-rating applies to a supply of travel arranging services will be updated, to be based on the place where the customer (i.e., the contractual customer) and direct beneficiary of the service belong:

• if the customer of the service belongs in Singapore, the travel arranging service will be standard-rated; or
• if the customer of the service belongs outside Singapore and the direct beneficiary either belongs outside Singapore or is GST-registered in Singapore, the travel arranging service will be zero-rated.

The Greek MyData platform went live in October 2021 as a mandatory tax reporting requirement, driven by the need to combat VAT fraud.
The Greek government is striving for enhanced automation of the MyData system. Most Greek businesses will now receive any VAT rebates automatically in a shorter period of time- without the need for tax officials to be involved in the process.
There will be a few exceptions- such as companies with repeated past violations, or high-value rebates- which will need to be subject to additional monitoring. However, this shows the Greek Government’s intention to streamline the VAT rebate process and create a more automated MyData platform- resulting in increased convenience for customers and a more customer-friendly solution.

In line with what we’re seeing across Europe, Latvia’s governing coalition parties will meet to discuss reducing the VAT on energy from 21% to 5%. This is a significant reduction and shows the pressure governments are under to try and tackle rising inflation, amongst other issues.
This has not yet been implemented but the government should indicate their intentions over the coming weeks.

Slovenia is extending the circumstances under which the reverse charge must be used. From 22nd January 2022, non-established companies will no longer have to charge VAT on their domestic B2B transactions in Slovenia- assuming that conditions are met for the reverse charge. The customer must be a taxable person with a VAT number in Slovenia.
This will mean some companies will avoid VAT registration in Slovenia altogether- this will be particularly advantageous if they have minimal transactions undertaken in Slovenia. Non-established companies will potentially benefit from less administrative tax burdens as a result of the measure.

In 2020, we informed you of the 9% reduced rate that was applied to certain products in Bulgaria:
• Books on a physical carrier or by electronic means;
• Restaurant and catering services, including the supply of food for consumption at home;
• Food suitable for babies and young children;
• Baby diapers and similar baby hygienic items;
• General touristic service, as well as excursions organised by tour operators and tour agents;
• Services for the use of sports facilities.
This reduced rate will now be extended and apply to these products until 31 December 2022.

In line with several other countries introducing ‘greener’ tax measures, Austria is implementing a carbon tax from 1 July 2022. This aims to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
Austrians will need to pay 30 Euros per tonne of CO2- this will rise to 55 Euros per tonne in 2025. The incentive behind this measure is to reduce reliance on carbon-intensive forms of transportation and heating, as well as opting for more climate-friendly choices.

Specific reporting obligations for digital platform operators have been in place since 2021. These obligations request that digital operators inform service providers active on the applicable platform of their fiscal and social obligations. Digital operators also need to send to both the tax authorities and service providers information relating to the type of service rendered and any relevant amounts.
The Belgian Tax Authorities have recently published FQAs clarifying the scope of these reporting obligations. The first reporting deadline is as soon as 31 March 2022, and it is advisable that any affected digital operators refer to this for clarification of the legislation and their responsibilities.