Value-Added Tax
A Value-Added Tax is a consumption tax based on the increase in value of a product or service at each stage of production or distribution.
- AKA: VAT, Goods and Services Tax (GST).
- Context:
- It can (typically) be an Indirect Tax (in that it is collected from someone other than the person who actually bears the cost of the tax).
- It can involve VAT reimbursements to the seller.
- Example(s):
- Canadian HST (~5% [1]).
- Japanese VAT (~8% [2]).
- German VAT (~19% [3]).
- …
- Counter-Example(s):
- a Sales Tax.
- a Use Tax.
- an Import Tariff.
- See: Property Tax, ad valorem Tax.
References
2019
- (Wikipedia, 2019) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value-added_tax Retrieved:2019-8-15.
- A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. Like an income tax, it is based on the increase in value of a product or service at each stage of production or distribution. However, a VAT is collected by the end retailer and is usually a flat tax, and is therefore frequently compared to a sales tax.
VAT essentially compensates for the shared service and infrastructure provided in a certain locality by a state and funded by its taxpayers that were used in the elaboration of that product or service. Not all localities require VAT to be charged and goods and services for export may be exempted (duty free). VAT is usually implemented as a destination-based tax, where the tax rate is based on the location of the consumer and applied to the sales price. Confusingly, the terms VAT, GST, consumption tax and sales tax are sometimes used interchangeably. VAT raises about a fifth of total tax revenues both worldwide and among the members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). As of 2018, 166 of the 193 countries with full UN membership employ a VAT, including all OECD members except the United States, which uses a sales tax system instead.
There are two main methods of calculating VAT: the credit-invoice or invoice-based method, and the subtraction or accounts-based method. Using the credit-invoice method, sales transactions are taxed, with the customer informed of the VAT on the transaction, and businesses may receive a credit for VAT paid on input materials and services. The credit-invoice method is the most widely employed method, used by all national VATs except for Japan. Using the subtraction method, at the end of a reporting period, a business calculates the value of all taxable sales then subtracts the sum of all taxable purchases and the VAT rate is applied to the difference. The subtraction method VAT is currently only used by Japan, although subtraction method VATs, often using the name "flat tax", have been part of many recent tax reform proposals by US politicians. With both methods, there are exceptions in the calculation method for certain goods and transactions, created for either pragmatic collection reasons or to counter tax fraud and evasion.
- A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. Like an income tax, it is based on the increase in value of a product or service at each stage of production or distribution. However, a VAT is collected by the end retailer and is usually a flat tax, and is therefore frequently compared to a sales tax.
2016a
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_tax#Types
- QUOTE: Value added tax, in which tax is charged on all sales, thus avoiding the need for a system of resale certificates. Tax cascading is avoided by applying the tax only to the difference ("value added") between the price paid by the first purchaser and the price paid by each subsequent purchaser of the same item.
2016b
- (Wikipedia, 2016) ⇒ http://wikipedia.org/wiki/ad_valorem_tax#Value-added_tax Retrieved:2016-3-21.
- A value-added tax (VAT), or goods and services tax (GST), is tax on exchanges. It is levied on the added value that results from each exchange. It differs from a sales tax because a sales tax is levied on the total value of the exchange. For this reason, a VAT is neutral with respect to the number of passages that there are between the producer and the final consumer. A VAT is an indirect tax, in that the tax is collected from someone other than the person who actually bears the cost of the tax (namely the seller rather than the consumer). To avoid double taxation on final consumption, exports (which by definition are consumed abroad) are usually not subject to VAT and VAT charged under such circumstances is usually refundable.