What changed
European Union — VAT: Council agrees to remove the EUR 150 limit from the IOSS and the platform deemed-supplier rule
On 9 November 2026 the Council reached a general approach on the draft Directive on platforms that facilitate distance sales of imported goods and on the Import One-Stop Shop. The text removes the EUR 150 consignment-value limit, so the deemed-supplier rule and the IOSS would cover imported goods of any value, with Member States applying the rules from 1 July 2028 (later if the customs-side IOSS functionality is not ready by 1 June 2028). The European Parliament must be re-consulted before formal adoption. (European Commission; Council of the European Union)
What it means: This is the VAT half of the end of the EUR 150 duty exemption. Marketplaces that today stop at the EUR 150 line will be the deemed supplier on every imported consignment, and IOSS becomes usable for high-value parcels too. Nothing changes before 2028, but checkout, customs-data and IOSS-registration logic built around the threshold will need rework.
Full record, with the verbatim source text →
Zambia — VAT: 2027 Budget proposes a 16.5% standard rate and ends zero-rating of energy-saving appliances
The 2027 Budget Address delivered on 6 November 2026 proposes raising the standard VAT rate from 16% to 16.5% and discontinuing the VAT zero-rating of energy-saving appliances under Statutory Instrument No. 86 of 2022, with the revenue measures to take effect on 1 January 2027. Both require legislation. (Ministry of Finance and National Planning)
What it means: A half-point rise is small but touches every VAT-registered business, and the 1 January date leaves seven weeks for rate tables, POS and invoice templates once the bill passes. Importers of solar and energy-saving kit lose both the duty exemption and the zero rate together.
Full record: 16.5% VAT rate → · Full record: energy-saving appliances →
Japan — Consumption Tax: House of Representatives passes a two-year cut of the tax on food to 1%
The House of Representatives passed the Cabinet bill on 6 November 2026; it is now before the House of Councillors. The bill would cut the national consumption tax rate on food and beverages from 6.24% to 0.78% for supplies from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2029, taking the combined rate on food from 8% to 1%, and creates a cash support payment for low- and middle-income workers. (House of Representatives)
What it means: If the upper house agrees, Japan runs three consumption-tax rates on goods (10%, 8% for newspapers, 1% for food) for two years, with a fixed end date. Qualified-invoice layouts, POS rate codes and the eat-in/takeaway split all need a new rate line by April 2027.
Full record, with the verbatim source text →
Germany — VAT: third BMF letter on mandatory B2B e-invoicing
The Federal Ministry of Finance’s letter of 15 October 2026 (III C 5 - S 7287-a/00019/021/017) supplements the 2024 and 2025 letters with rules on advance and final invoices, invoice content, construction services, corrections and business-rule errors, and amends UStAE sections 14.1, 14.5, 14.11 and 15.11. Issuing another type of invoice where an e-invoice is required is not an administrative offence under section 26a(2) no. 1 UStG, and e-invoices issued up to 31 December 2026 that meet the earlier letters but not the new requirements are not objected to. (Bundesministerium der Finanzen)
What it means: This is the rulebook businesses above EUR 800,000 turnover will issue against from 1 January 2027. The grace for 2026 invoices helps, but final invoices after advance payments and construction-services invoices are where templates most often need changing.
Full record, with the verbatim source text →
Poland — VAT: import-declaration law published, monthly DUSZ declaration in force
The Act amending the VAT Act in connection with import declarations and the end of the EUR 150 customs-duty exemption was published as Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1446 on 3 November 2026; most provisions apply from 18 November 2026. A Minister of Finance regulation (Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1452, in force 4 November 2026) sets the monthly DUSZ declaration for the special procedure for imported parcels, filed electronically through PUESC. (Dziennik Ustaw)
What it means: Postal and courier operators collecting import VAT on parcels have a new monthly return now, and exporters gain more transport and postal documents that support the 0% rate from 18 November.
Full record: the Act → · Full record: DUSZ regulation →
United Arab Emirates — VAT: Version 2.0 of the e-invoicing guidelines
The Ministry of Finance published Version 2.0 of the UAE Electronic Invoicing Guidelines, dated 26 October 2026, adding an appendix on taxpayer and buyer identification (the 10-digit TIN assigned by the Federal Tax Authority) and invoice classification, and restating the timeline: Persons with revenue of AED 50 million or more implement from 1 January 2027, the rest from 1 July 2027. (UAE Ministry of Finance)
What it means: Seven weeks before go-live, the identification rules are the piece most likely to break mapping: suppliers registered only for corporate tax still carry a TIN on the e-invoice.
Full record, with the verbatim source text →
China — VAT: new rules for fully digitised railway e-invoices from 1 December
State Taxation Administration and China State Railway Group Announcement No. 22 of 2026 (4 November 2026, effective 1 December 2026) changes how railway passenger e-invoices are requested and adds an optional invoice format, and bars third-party internet platforms and individuals from issuing, delivering or downloading railway e-ticket invoices. (State Taxation Administration)
What it means: Travel-management and expense platforms that pull railway invoices on behalf of travellers must route employees to 12306 or station machines from December.
Full record, with the verbatim source text →
Georgia — VAT: corrective tax invoices must show the VAT difference
An amendment to the Instruction under Order N996 of the Minister of Finance entered into force on 1 November 2026: a corrective tax invoice must show the positive or negative difference in VAT against the original or previous corrective invoice, including for advance-payment and special petroleum-products tax invoices. (Revenue Service of Georgia)
What it means: Credit-note and correction flows in Georgian invoicing systems need to populate the increase/decrease fields now.
Full record, with the verbatim source text →
In short
- Canada — Budget 2026 (5 November 2026) proposes exempting qualifying massage therapy services from GST/HST and zero-rating alternating electric field cancer-treatment devices; legislation required. (Department of Finance Canada) · Full record →
- Netherlands — The third nota van wijziging to the Belastingplan 2027 (4 November 2026) drops the abolition of the 9% rate for ornamental horticulture; balloon rides still move to 21% from 2028 if the bill passes. (Tweede Kamer) · Full record →
- Latvia — The Cabinet approved VAT bill 25-TA-2418 on 6 November 2026, transposing ViDA’s platform and distance-sales changes from 1 January 2027 and adding 0% for supplies under the EU SAFE defence instrument; it goes to the Saeima. (Cabinet of Ministers) · Full record →
- Austria — The alcohol excise duty rises to EUR 1,560 per 100 litres of pure alcohol from 1 January 2027. (Federal Ministry of Finance) · Full record →
- Romania — Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2495 extends the 50% cap on VAT deduction for mixed-use vehicles to 31 December 2029. (Official Journal of the EU) · Full record →
- United States (Washington) — The Department of Revenue posted the 1 January 2027 local sales and use tax changes, including increases in King County, Auburn, Spokane County and Stanwood. (Washington DOR) · Full record →
- United States (Minnesota) — The Grand Rapids 0.5% local sales and use tax no longer applies from 1 January 2027. (Minnesota Department of Revenue) · Full record →
- Peru — SIRE electronic sales and purchase registers are mandatory for the larger Principales Contribuyentes from the October 2026 period (Resolución 000125-2026/SUNAT). (SUNAT) · Full record →
- Brazil — Decreto 13.140/2026 and Resolução CGSN 195/2026 let MEIs use the DASN-Simei as the electronic fiscal document for sales to individual consumers under the consumption-tax reform. (Receita Federal) · Full record →
- St Kitts and Nevis — Discounted VAT Rate Days are set for 11 and 19 December 2026; businesses apply by 30 November. (Inland Revenue Department) · Full record →
Themes this week
- The EUR 150 line is going on both sides of the border. The EU’s general approach removes it from VAT from July 2028, while Poland has already legislated the import-declaration consequences of losing the customs-duty exemption, with a new monthly return for parcel operators in force this month.
- Budget season moves rates in both directions. Zambia proposes raising its standard rate and ending a zero rate; Japan’s lower house votes to cut the food rate to 1% for two years; Canada and Austria adjust narrower lines (health services, alcohol).
- E-invoicing rulebooks are being finalised weeks before go-live. Germany’s third letter and the UAE’s Version 2.0 guidelines both land less than two months before 1 January 2027 obligations, and China and Georgia changed invoice mechanics with immediate or one-month effect.
Sources
Every change above links to its event record, which carries the operative passage from the official source verbatim, with a dated screenshot. The machine-readable feed for this issue is the 2026-W46 file of the LookupTax tax-changes dataset.