This report aims at assisting tax authorities in designing and implementing an effective Value Added Tax/Goods and Services Tax (VAT/GST) policy response to the growth of the sharing and gig economy. The rise of this phenomenon, powered by digital platforms, has transformed a number of industries within just a few short years.

This paper set forth internationally agreed principles and standards for the value added tax (VAT) treatment of the most common types of international transactions, with a particular focus on trade in services and intangibles. Its aim is to minimise inconsistencies in the application of VAT in a cross-border context with a view to reducing uncertainty and risks of double taxation and unintended non-taxation in international trade. It also includes the recommended principles and mechanisms to address the challenges for the collection of VAT on crossborder sales of digital products that had been identified in the context of the OECD/G20 Project on Base and Erosion and Profit Shifting (the BEPS Project).

This working paper, explains and evaluates key aspects of Australia's GST (a value added tax), focussing on aspects of the law that are of relevance to a comparative tax law scholars considering how legal and policy design features of VAT/GST laws affect the level of simplicity/complexity of the and reduce/increase opportunities for fraud. The discussion is focused on 7 broad topics: (1) Neutrality; (2) VAT groups and head office-to-branch transactions; (3) Financial services, including insurance; (4) Anti-avoidance rules; (5) Advance rulings; (6) the VAT gap; and (7) Compliance costs and costs of collection.The final version of this paper was published as “Chapter 2 - Australia” in Michael Lang and Ine Lejeune (eds.), Improving VAT/GST: Designing a Simple and Fraud-Proof Tax System, (2014: IBFD, Amsterdam), pp. 23-110. The paper was initially prepared in the form of a response to a questionnaire prepared by the editors of that book on various aspects of the VAT/GST law, case law, and policy in participating countries. Responses were workshopped at a conference in 2011 and subsequently modified into standalone works in which the key features of each country's law were identified, explained, and compared in a way that would be comprehensible in a global context.Both on its own and in concert with the other chapters in the book, this paper provides a comparative tax law perspective on the challenging issues facing value added taxes around the world and the ways in which countries are addressing administration and collection issues to try to minimise and/or combat VAT/GST evasion and avoidance.

"This book will be an interesting and valuable tool for both regulators and practitioners alike to deepen their understanding of the various tax systems and the way certain issues are solved under different regimes, in order to encourage international trade and lay the groundwork for the removal of tax obstacles and related costs in global commerce."--Extracted from publisher website on March 25, 2014.

Papers from a global conference held in September 2010.

This books examines the problems and opportunities of VAT/GST regimes in relation to the digital economy. The issues covered are: VAT collection and compliance in the digital economy ; VAT issues for intermediated delivery and third party billing; treatment of digital products and e-services under VAT; characterization of "cryptocurrencies" for VAT/GST purposes; dispute resolution and prevention; and administrative cooperation.