Published 15 February 2023

The VAT Digital Toolkit for Africa supports tax authorities on the continent with the design and implementation of measures to ensure the effective collection of value added taxes (VAT) on e-commerce. Africa is a major and growing market for global e-commerce. VAT is the single largest source of tax revenue in African jurisdictions on average. The challenges to collect VAT on continuously growing e-commerce sales create increasingly significant pressures for VAT regimes in Africa and worldwide. These challenges concern collection on booming sales of online services and digital products to private consumers (“apps”, streaming, gaming, ride-hailing, etc.) and on online sales of low-value imported goods, often by foreign merchants. VAT may often not be levied effectively on these sales under existing rules in African jurisdictions. This toolkit provides detailed guidance for the implementation of a comprehensive VAT strategy directed at all types of e-commerce. It aims to help governments in Africa secure important VAT revenues and ensure a level playing field between bricks-and-mortar retailers and foreign online merchants. The OECD has produced this toolkit in partnership with the World Bank Group, following the publication of editions for Latin America and the Caribbean and for Asia-Pacific. The African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) has contributed considerably as the key regional partner for Africa.

Published 10 March 2022

The VAT Digital Toolkit for Asia-Pacific (APAC) aims to assist tax authorities in the APAC region with the design and implementation of reform to ensure the effective collection of value added taxes (VAT) on e-commerce activities. APAC is the largest e-commerce region in the world. VAT is a crucial source of tax revenue for the region. The challenges to collect VAT on the continuously growing e-commerce sales create increasingly important pressures for VAT regimes worldwide. These challenges relate to VAT collection on the booming sales of online services and digital products to private consumers (“apps”, streaming, gaming, ride-hailing, etc.) and on online sales of low-value imported goods, often by foreign merchants. VAT is often not levied effectively on these sales under existing rules. This toolkit provides detailed guidance for the implementation of a comprehensive VAT strategy directed at all types of e-commerce. It is designed to help governments secure important VAT revenues and to ensure a level playing field between brick-and-mortar retailers and foreign online merchants. This toolkit has been produced by the OECD in partnership with the World Bank Group. This partnership also includes editions for Latin America and the Caribbean and for Africa. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has contributed considerably as regional partner for the APAC region.

Published 15 February 2023

This toolkit aims to assist tax authorities in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region with the design and implementation of policy reform to ensure the effective collection of VAT on e-commerce activities. VAT is the largest source of tax revenue on average in the LAC region. The main e-commerce VAT challenges relate to the strong growth in online sales of services and digital products to private consumers ("apps", music and movie streaming, gaming, ride-hailing, etc.) and to the exponential growth in online sales of low-value imported goods, often by foreign sellers, on which VAT is not collected effectively under existing rules. This toolkit provides detailed guidance for the successful implementation of a comprehensive VAT strategy directed at all types of e-commerce. It is designed to help governments secure important VAT revenues and to safeguard an even playing field between brick-and-mortar stores and foreign online sellers. The toolkit has been produced by the OECD in partnership with the World Bank Group (WBG). This partnership also includes the delivery of editions for Asia-Pacific and Africa. The Inter American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT) and the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) have contributed considerably as regional partners for the LAC region.