Keeping up with COVID-19 emergency indirect tax measures

In response to the global effects of COVID-19 on businesses, many countries around the world are implementing emergency indirect tax breaks to support their economies. To help you keep up-to-date with what this means for your business, we are summarising the measures as they are announced.

We will continue to add more information as it becomes available. Our goal is to help businesses as they develop their COVID-19 response strategies by providing the latest information on indirect tax.

The latest updates will be added continually to GlobalVATOnline.

New value-added tax (VAT) and goods and services tax (GST) measures vary by country but include:

• changes in time to pay and dedicated helplines for time-to-pay enquiries
• automatic delayed VAT remittances to give businesses a cash flow boost
• reductions in VAT/GST rates — some of these apply nationally, while others are for the worst-affected sectors, such as tourism and hospitality, and/or for producers of essential medical supplies
• waivers of interest on late payments
• automatic waivers of the sanctions for late submission of the VAT return if the tax office also grants one of the two waivers listed above.
   

New customs duty measures include:

• more customs officers being hired to maintain clearance times and prevent supply chain disruptions
• policy revisions to prohibit the export of surgical or disposable masks, ventilators and textile raw materials for manufacturing protective products  
• waivers of late fees for delayed filing of bills of entry
• dedicated help desks to resolve issues related to exports and imports
   

If you have any indirect tax concerns or need more information about any of these initiatives, you can contact PwC indirect tax specialists in your territory or contact me directly.