Saint Kitts and Nevis cuts standard VAT from 17% to 13% for 1 January to 30 June 2025

What changed in detail

In the December 2024 Budget (Appropriation) Address, the Government of Saint Kitts and Nevis announced a six-month “VAT Relief Holiday”. The Minister of Finance gave effect to it by S.R.O. No. 4 of 2025, made under section 27(2) of the Value Added Tax Act, Cap. 18.47. That section lets the Minister set another rate by Order, subject to affirmative resolution of the National Assembly.

The Order applied a special rate of 13% to sales of vatable goods and services ordinarily taxed at the 17% standard rate, from 1 January 2025 until 30 June 2025. The National Assembly affirmed it on 21 March 2025. The resolution was published as S.R.O. No. 5 of 2025 in Official Gazette No. 15 of 27 March 2025.

The Inland Revenue Department’s guidance of 30 December 2024 explained how the rate applied:

• transactions before 1 January 2025 stayed at 17%;
• the applicable rate depends on the earliest of delivery or completion, invoice, or receipt of payment;
• the 10% reduced rate for commercial rentals, accommodation services and restaurant supplies under section 27(1)(d) was unchanged.

What it means

The cut is spent. It ended with the Order’s own period on 30 June 2025, and the Inland Revenue Department confirmed that the standard rate reverted to 17% from 1 July 2025, with no new instrument needed. The standard rate has been 17% since then and still is in November 2026.

The tax point rules matter for supplies that straddle either date. An invoice issued or a payment received before 1 July 2025 could still fix the 13% rate for a supply completed later. Returns and credit notes for the first half of 2025 should be checked against the 13% rate.

The short Discounted VAT Rate Days that the government ran in 2026 (single days, and a two-day window in August) are a separate mechanism; see the December 2026 DVR days.