Download or read book VAT Refunds A Review of Country Experience written by Graham Harrison and published by INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND. This book was released on 2005-11-01 with total page 43 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A key feature of the invoice-credit form of value-added tax (VAT) is that some businesses- notably exporters-will pay more tax on their purchases than is due on their sales, and so can seek refunds of excess credits from government. While refunding is straightforward in principle, serious problems arise in practice, including opportunities for fraud and corruption, and denial of refunds by governments with cash shortages. This makes the refund process the "Achilles heel" of the VAT. This paper examines the refund approaches of tax administrations in 36 developing, transitional, and developed countries. It evaluates the effectiveness of these approaches and suggests a model of best practice that takes into consideration compliance issues faced by countries during different stages of development.

Download or read book How to Manage Value Added Tax Refunds written by Mario Pessoa and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2021-05-10 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The value-added tax (VAT) has the potential to generate significant government revenue. Despite its intrinsic self-enforcement capacity, many tax administrations find it challenging to refund excess input credits, which is critical to a well-functioning VAT system. Improperly functioning VAT refund practices can have profound implications for fiscal policy and management, including inaccurate deficit measurement, spending overruns, poor budget credibility, impaired treasury operations, and arrears accumulation.This note addresses the following issues: (1) What are VAT refunds and why should they be managed properly? (2) What practices should be put in place (in tax policy, tax administration, budget and treasury management, debt, and fiscal statistics) to help manage key aspects of VAT refunds? For a refund mechanism to be credible, the tax administration must ensure that it is equipped with the strategies, processes, and abilities needed to identify VAT refund fraud. It must also be prepared to act quickly to combat such fraud/schemes.

Download or read book The Rise of the Value Added Tax written by Kathryn James and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-30 with total page 495 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores one of the most significant trends in the evolution of global tax systems by asking how, within less than half a century, the value-added tax (VAT) has risen from relative obscurity to become one of the world's most dominant revenue instruments. Despite its significance, very little is known about why so many countries have adopted the VAT and, in particular, why different countries adopt the types of VAT that they do. The popular mythology provides that the merits of the VAT have underpinned its global spread; however, this book contends that much scholarship confuses the question of why the VAT has risen to dominance with the issue of what makes a good VAT. This book combines policy and legal analysis to propose a new way of understanding the rise of this important revenue instrument so as to better reflect the realities of the VATs that are actually implemented.

Download or read book The Taxation of Petroleum and Minerals written by Philip Daniel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-04-15 with total page 471 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Oil, gas and mineral deposits are a substantial part of the wealth of many countries, not least in developing and emerging market economies. Harnessing some part of that wealth for fiscal purposes is critical for economic development: in few areas of economic life are the returns to good policy so large, or mistakes so costly.

Download or read book Virtues and Fallacies of VAT An Evaluation after 50 Years written by Robert F. van Brederode and published by Kluwer Law International B.V.. This book was released on 2021-08-09 with total page 615 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Value-added tax (VAT) is a mainstay of revenue systems in more than 160 countries. Because consumption is a more stable revenue base than other tax bases, VAT is less distorting and hence more likely to encourage investment, savings, optimum labor supply decisions, and growth. VAT is not without criticism however, and faces its own specific technical and policy challenges. This book, the first to thoroughly evaluate VAT from a global policy perspective after over 50 years of experience with its intricacies, offers authoritative perspectives on VAT’s full spectrum—from its signal successes to the subtle ways its application can undermine revenue performance and economic neutrality. The contributors—leading tax practitioners and academics—examine the key policy issues and topics that are crucially relevant for measuring the success of the tax in the first part of the book, including: revenue generation and revenue efficiency; single rate versus multiple rates; susceptibility to fraud; exemptions and exceptions; compliance cost for businesses; policy and compliance gaps in revenue collection; adjustment rules caused by the transactional nature of the tax; transfer pricing issues; treatment of vouchers; permanent establishments and holding companies; payment of refunds; cross-border digital transactions; and supplies for free or below cost price. The second part offers six country reports—on New Zealand, Japan, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, and India—to demonstrate the different ways in which VAT operates in a variety of national economies. Whether a government is contemplating the imposition of a general consumption tax for the first time or new rules for applying an existing one, it is important for policymakers to keep central the aim to design a tax that realizes optimal efficiency and causes minimal distortions. This invaluable book serves as an expert guide to VAT policy development in this area. It will be welcomed not only by concerned government officials but also by tax professionals (both lawyers and accountants) and academics in tax law.

Download or read book Revenue Administration written by Mrs.Andrea Lemgruber and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2014-06-17 with total page 27 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many developing countries have significant natural resource endowments, presenting a remarkable opportunity to boost long-term growth. However, this opportunity comes with enormous challenges. To maximize social and economic benefits, strong governance and institutional capacity are essential. Effective and transparent tax administration is crucial for properly managing revenues from natural resources so the country may benefit economically and socially from its natural resources. Revenue Administration describes the challenges that developing countries face and presents good practices to help build countries’ long-term institutional capacity.

Download or read book Taxation and Public Finance in Transition and Developing Economies written by Robert W. McGee and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-08-25 with total page 670 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Topics in this comprehensive survey include bureaucracy, corruption and tax compliance; public finance in developing economies; taxation in several former Soviet republics, Eastern Europe and China; taxation in the enlarged European Union; tax harmonization vs. tax competition; and the philosophy of taxation and public finance. The editor has assembled a stellar group of authorities to write about their areas of expertise.

Download or read book Industries Without Smokestacks written by Richard S. Newfarmer and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study prepared by the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER)

Download or read book The Modern VAT written by Mr.Liam P. Ebrill and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2001-11-05 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Value-added tax, or VAT, first introduced less than 50 years ago, is now a pivotal component of tax systems around the world. The rapid and seemingly irresistible rise of the VAT is probably the most important tax development of the latter twentieth century, and certainly the most breathtaking. Written by a team of experts from the IMF, this book examines the remarkable spread and current reach of the innovative tax and draws lessons about the design and implementation of the VAT, as experienced by different countries around the world. How efficient is it as a tax, is it fair, and is it suitable for all countries? These are among the questions raised. This highly informative and well-researched book also looks at the likely future of the tax.

Download or read book Sri Lanka written by International Monetary Fund. Asia and Pacific Dept and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2016-06-14 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper discusses economic performance, outlook, and risks of Sri Lankan economy. Macroeconomic performance in 2015 reflected a mix between positive underlying growth momentum, the negative impact of unbalanced domestic policies, and an increasingly difficult external environment. The government fiscal deficit expanded to 6.9 percent of GDP in 2015. The overall balance of payments deteriorated significantly in 2015 despite an improvement in the terms of trade. Sri Lanka’s short-term outlook is challenging, but medium-term prospects are favorable if current macro-financial imbalances can be addressed. The key risks to the outlook stem from (1) government inaction on key policies and (2) a significant deterioration in the external environment.

Download or read book Competitiveness and Private Sector Development Sector Specific Sources of Competitiveness in the Western Balkans Recommendation for a Regional Investment Strategy written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2009-05-14 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report examines the apparel, automotive components and business process/technology outsourcing sectors in the western Balkans, focusing on competitiveness factors and including policy recommendations.

Download or read book Taxing Africa written by Mick Moore and published by Zed Books Ltd.. This book was released on 2018-07-15 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taxation has been seen as the domain of charisma-free accountants, lawyers and number crunchers – an unlikely place to encounter big societal questions about democracy, equity or good governance. Yet it is exactly these issues that pervade conversations about taxation among policymakers, tax collectors, civil society activists, journalists and foreign aid donors in Africa today. Tax has become viewed as central to African development. Written by leading international experts, Taxing Africa offers a cutting-edge analysis on all aspects of the continent’s tax regime, displaying the crucial role such arrangements have on attempts to create social justice and push economic advancement. From tax evasion by multinational corporations and African elites to how ordinary people navigate complex webs of ‘informal’ local taxation, the book examines the potential for reform, and how space might be created for enabling locally-led strategies.

Download or read book Value Added Tax written by Alan Schenk and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-02-09 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book integrates legal, economic, and administrative materials about the value added tax (VAT) to present the only comparative approach to the study of VAT law. The comparative presentation of this volume offers an analysis of policy issues relating to tax structure and tax base as well as insights into how cases arising out of VAT disputes have been resolved. Its principal purpose is to provide comprehensive teaching tools - laws, cases, analytical exercises, and questions drawn from the experience of countries and organizations around the world. This second edition includes new VAT-related developments in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia and adds new chapters on VAT avoidance and evasion and on China's VAT. Designed to illustrate, analyze, and explain the principal theoretical and operating features of value added taxes, including their adoption and implementation, this book will be an invaluable resource for tax practitioners and government officials.

Download or read book Systems of General Sales Taxation written by Robert F. W. van Brederode and published by Kluwer Law International B.V.. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book gives and general overview of sales taxes and describes main characteristics of consumption taxation. It also provides an economic analysis of all the taxes covered and related tax issues such as tax shifting, tax incidence, the economic effect of reduced rates and exemptions, tax accumulation, regressivity, and the Laffer curve approach. In addition, it offers a tax policy approach in regard to specific economic sectors such as the treatment of small enterprises, financial services, and real property. The author further focuses on contrasts between US sales tax and European VAT (in regard of e-commerce and the treatment of capital goods). The work also offers legal analysis in areas such as cross-border transactions and US constitutional restraints.

Download or read book Current Challenges in Revenue Mobilization Improving Tax Compliance written by International Monetary Fund and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2015-01-29 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This paper addresses core challenges that all tax administrations face in dealing with noncompliance—which are now receiving renewed attention. Long a priority in developing countries, assuring strong compliance has acquired greater priority in countries facing intensified revenue needs, and is critical for fairness and statebuilding. Series: Policy Papers

Download or read book Modernizing VATs in Africa written by Sijbren Cnossen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-07-12 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most African countries are in dire need of more tax revenue. In 28 out of 45 countries with a value-added tax (VAT), total tax revenue as a percentage of GDP is around 15% or less, falling short of what is necessary to finance basic human and economic development. Far from being revenue-raising instruments, current African VATs are riddled with exemptions, exclusions, and zero rates on domestic goods and services that depress revenue, are highly distortionary, and greatly complicate the administration of VAT. Modernizing VATs in Africa enables policymakers, professionals, and students to analyse African tax systems to ascertain how they can be modernized. It explains the case for VAT base-broadening over rate-increasing, arguing that exemptions and zero rates mainly accrue benefits for higher-income groups. Even more persuasively, it demonstrates that the net result of fiscal systems can be equalizing if the revenue of broad-based VATs is used to finance in-kind transfers, such as healthcare and education. VAT modernization should be used to enable governments to finance development; Modernizing VATs in Africa puts a compelling case forward for how and why this can be achieved.

Download or read book Revenue Mobilization in Developing Countries written by International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept. and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2011-08-03 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Fund has long played a lead role in supporting developing countries’ efforts to improve their revenue mobilization. This paper draws on that experience to review issues and good practice, and to assess prospects in this key area.