Value Added Tax in the UK: Identifying the Important Issues

This paper analyses VAT policy in the UK, in the light of interviews conducted in 1988–89 with specialists drawn mainly from accounting and legal partnerships, industry and the civil service. The prime concern among interviewees was simplicity: it was considered highly desirable to avoid making the tax more complicated and to improve efficiency where possible. It would be undesirable to introduce additional tax rates. Compared with VAT in other countries, the UK tax has two idiosyncratic aspects: a high registration threshold and an extensive use of zero-rating. Policy-making, on these two aspects of the tax involves resolving important conflicts between administrative efficiency, competitive equity and political acceptability. Zero-rating is well-entrenched politically in the UK; and the high registration threshold is popular with Customs and Excise. However, other EC countries have taken a different stance on these issues, and any moves towards VAT harmonisation would encounter strong resistance from the UK.     

The value-added tax and growth: design matters

Previous research has shown that changes in the composition of tax revenue affect long-run growth. However, little is yet known about whether the way tax revenue is raised matters for growth. This paper examines whether, in the context of OECD countries, a revenue-neutral increase in the value-added tax (VAT), offset by a fall in income taxes, may have different effects on long-run growth depending on how the VAT is raised. We show that a revenue-neutral rise in the VAT promotes growth when it is raised through a rise in C-efficiency, while it does not when it is raised through a rise in the standard VAT rate, the rate applied to the largest portion of taxed consumption. C-efficiency measures the departure of the VAT from a perfectly enforced tax levied at a single rate on all consumption, which in advanced economies is largely due to the VAT that is not levied because of exemptions and reduced rates. Thus, our results suggest that an increase in C-efficiency, possibly reflecting the broadening of the VAT base through fewer exemptions and a more uniform rate structure with fewer reduced rates, promotes growth more than a rise in the standard rate.

     

Adjustment costs of institutional tax changes from the audit pricing perspective: Empirical evidence from the VAT reform

Institutional changes inevitably impose adjustment costs on firms while also generating benefits. However, empirical evidence regarding the adjustment costs of institutional changes is limited, with much of the focus centered on benefits. Using data on China’s A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2018 and the nation’s staggered adoption of the “business tax to value-added tax reform” (hereafter, “VAT reform”) as a natural experiment, we examine the impact of this reform on a particular corporate cost: audit fees. We find audit fees to be 8.11% higher for VAT reform firms than for non-VAT reform firms. This difference does not exist before or after the reform year. That is, it is only observed in the year of VAT reform implementation. This indicates the existence of an adjustment cost specifically related to the VAT reform. Furthermore, we observe larger fee increases among firms audited by Big 4 international audit firms, firms that require more audit work, firms that are more complex, and firms with weak internal controls. From the audit pricing perspective, we provide evidence of the economic consequences of tax reform. The corporate adjustment costs that arise from institutional changes deserve more attention from decision-makers.     

跳开增值税专用发票行为的法律分析

跳开增值税专用发票尽管在形式上构成虚开行为,在内容上与真实交易不符,但该行为实质上是对增值税进项抵扣链条中由于税率"陷落"而产生的缺陷的修复,与税收中性原则相符,不会造成国家增值税收入实质性的损失,因而不具备税收执法与刑事司法上的可罚性。将跳开排除在虚开行为之外,需要对国家的增值税收入中各部分的正当性以及增值税专用发票管理制度的作用与目的进行重新思考,以确定国家享有的税收债权的范围,保障纳税人的限额纳税权,并且要在刑事司法领域对虚开增值税专用发票罪的犯罪构成和量刑依据进行统一。     

The effect of VATs on government balance sheets

The value-added tax, VAT, has become a popular means of raising funds for governments around the world. Countries seeking to reduce variation in tax revenues as well as raise revenue to solve deficits often consider a VAT, and the IMF in particular has become an advocate for the tax for countries seeking tax reform. For all its popularity, its ability to deliver on these promises remains understudied. Countries with a lower cost of raising funds may instead choose to spend more instead of paying down their debts. This paper uses matching techniques to estimate the impact of a VAT on government debts and deficits. The tax is associated with falls in central government debt and deficits as well as expenditures as a share of GDP. There is limited evidence of increases in tax revenue and increases in stability of government spending. The choice of VAT rate is positively correlated with deficit reduction, and the effects of the tax are heterogeneous with respect to the probability of adoption of the treatment and what taxes it is replacing.     

“营改增”能否促进企业价值提升

"营改增"通过打通增值税抵扣链条、消除重复征税等,对企业税负降低和专业化分工会产生一定的促进作用,进而能够显著提升企业价值。而交通运输业由于"营改增"前后适用税率差异较大,且固定资产更新周期较长带来的进项抵扣不足,使得"营改增"对其企业价值的影响程度反而不及现代服务业。与私营企业相比,国有企业更容易受到政府政策干预或扶持,对税收政策的敏感性不及私营企业,即"营改增"对私营企业的企业价值的影响程度显著高于国有企业。鉴于"营改增"对企业价值的促进作用,国家应继续优化增值税体系,保持税收政策在促进企业价值提升时政策红利的延续性;在推行增值税改革的过程中,要增加配套税收优惠政策,以弥补政策效应对某些行业激励不足的短板;此外,要加快国有企业改革,营造公平的营商环境,促进税收中性原则的有效发挥。     

税务机关征收养老保险费对征缴率的影响研究

基于养老保险2002—2018年省级面板数据,运用系统GMM估计方法研究社保费征收模式对征缴率的影响。研究发现：社保全征的征缴率高于税务全征,但低于税务代征,后者无统计意义。进一步的机制和异质性检验结果表明：税务全征可能增加企业研发投入或减少雇佣人数,对实际征缴收入产生负面影响;对于系统老龄化程度低于30%,或征缴率高于60%,或参保率高于69.107%的样本,税务全征使征缴率下降10.8～16.2个百分点。可见,税务代征模式更有助于社保体系的可持续发展。     

营改增对小微企业的影响研究

从2012年1月1日营业税改征增值税试点以来,给小微企业的发展带来了契机,同时也出现了很多问题。本文分析了很多小微企业面临的税负不降反升、征管效率低以及实施过程中存在的潜在问题。最后,提出了进一步推进小微企业发展的相关建议。     

Value-added taxation and consumption

One of the main rationales for taxing consumption rather than income is that it is believed that consumption taxes discourage consumption, encourage savings, and thus generate higher economic growth. However, empirical evidence on the actual effectiveness of consumption taxes in stimulating savings is very limited. In this paper, we estimate the impact of a broad-based consumption tax, the value-added tax (VAT), on the aggregate consumption of fifteen European Union countries over the period 1961–2005. Our empirical results indicate, across a variety of estimation methods and specifications, that a one percentage point increase in the VAT rate leads to roughly a one percent reduction in the level of aggregate consumption in the short run and to a somewhat larger reduction in the long run.     

增值税留抵退税、融资约束与企业全要素生产率

本文以2018年部分行业的增值税留抵退税政策的实施作为准自然实验,基于长江三角洲先进制造业上市公司的数据,采用倾向得分匹配——双重差分法(PSM-DID),探究了增值税留抵退税政策对企业全要素生产率的影响.研究发现,短期内增值税留抵退税政策对企业全要素生产率的提高具有显著的促进作用;机制检验结果表明,增值税留抵退税政策通过降低企业的融资约束来促进企业全要素生产率的提高;异质性分析发现,增值税留抵退税政策对非国有性质、规模较小、成长性较好、杠杆率较低以及所处营商环境不理想的企业全要素生产率的促进作用尤为明显.根据研究结论,本文提出了进一步放宽增值税留抵退税政策限制与适度缩短留抵退税期限等相关建议.     

Global Trends and Issues in Value Added Taxation

Since the late 1960s, the VAT has become one of the mainstays of the tax systems in over one hundred countries. Apparently, its revenue raising and neutrality properties make it an attractive tax in a rapidly integrating, high-tax world. Following an overview of VATs throughout the world, this article examines various VAT structure and policy issues under the following headings: tax coverage features, tax base aspects, hard-to-tax sectors, rate structure issues, and interjurisdictional coordination problems. It is shown that the normative requirements of a good VAT are often met only in the breach.     

VAT attacks!

Like the theory of the second best that the 2006 congress marks, the value added tax (VAT) is now fifty years old. Judged by the extent and speed of its spread around the world, and the revenue that it raises, the VAT would seem to have been a remarkable success. Over the last few years, however, it has come under a series of attacks. This paper considers three of the most prominent of these. One is the fear (raised mainly in the United States) that the VAT actually does too good a job of raising tax revenue—which raises the empirical question of whether it has indeed proved as effective a source of revenue as its proponents claim and its opponents fear. The second is the view that the VAT does a bad job of taxing the informal sector—and that tariffs might consequently be a better revenue-raising instrument for many developing countries. The third attack is the most literal, by criminals rather than theorists: in the European Union and elsewhere, sophisticated VAT fraud, targeting its refund provisions, has become a serious concern. The paper also argues, more generally, that the many unanswered questions concerning the VAT reflect an unfortunate disconnect between the development of the tax itself and of second best tax analysis. I am grateful to Ben Lockwood and Stephen Smith for allowing me to draw on our joint work, and to Vidar Christiansen, Sijbren Cnossen, Isaias Coelho, Alain Jousten, Victoria Perry, and Emil Sunley for many helpful comments and suggestions. Views and errors remain mine alone, and should not be attributed to the International Monetary Fund.     

提高企业所得税征管质量和效率的探讨

目前在企业所得税征管方面还存在许多问题.提高企业所得税征管质量和效率的措施包括:加强企业所得税日常管理工作;加大对税务人员的培训力度;加大对纳税人关联企业交易往来的监控;严格审核纳税人申报的财产损失;提高税务稽查选案的准确率;保证税务稽查有的放矢,提高税务稽查的质量和效率.     

Revenue and welfare effects of financial sector VAT exemption

This paper provides an analysis of revenue and welfare effects associated with a VAT exemption of financial services, which is common among OECD countries. We follow a general equilibrium approach that considers effects of repealing the VAT exemption not only on consumer demand and intermediate-input demand for financial services, but takes account also of the VAT distortion of labor supply. We derive formal expressions for revenue and welfare effects, which can be quantified with a minimum of information about behavioral effects. Using VAT statistics as well as national accounts, we provide quantitative estimates of the effects of repealing the VAT exemption in Germany. Our baseline estimate indicates that tax revenues would increase by some €1.7 billion or 1.3 % of VAT revenues (excluding import turnover tax). Provided these revenue gains are used to finance a reduction in the VAT rate or in other distortive labor taxes our results indicate a modest welfare gain of about €1 billion, or 0.04 % of GDP.     

强化海关进口增值税专用缴款书的管理

在现行增值税管理机制下,增值税专用发票涉税违法犯罪案件得到了有效遏制。但是,利用假海关进口增值税专用缴款书(以下简称“海关完税凭证”)进行违法犯罪的案件时有发生。为此,有必要对一些企业实施重点监控,优化队伍素质,强化审核,提升管理质量,以切实减少此类案件发生,防止国家税收损失。     

Spillover effects of VAT Self-enforcement properties: Evidence based on the replacement of business tax with VAT reform

In accordance with the purchasing tax-deduction method and the receipt-based value added tax (VAT) system, the same transaction can be recorded by two firms, which creates self-enforcement properties, thereby restraining tax avoidance. Using the Replacement of Business Tax with VAT reform in China, this paper adopts a difference-in-differences design to investigate the spillover effects of VAT self-enforcement properties on corporate income tax avoidance by manually collating information about suppliers/clients of listed firms. As the listed firms' suppliers/clients switch from paying business tax to paying VAT, there is a striking decline in their corporate income tax avoidance behavior. This effect is pronounced in firms with closer upstream and downstream correlations, higher information complexity and stronger incentives for tax avoidance.     

“营改增”影响地方政府税收努力研究

基于随机前沿分析法（SFA）测算2011-2015年我国地方政府税收努力程度,并运用双重差分法考察“营改增”对地方征税行为的影响。研究发现：“营改增”将地方税（营业税）变为共享税（增值税）,显著降低了地方政府税收努力程度;改革对税收努力的冲击受经济发展水平、转移支付额度和税收返还的影响,获取转移支付收入和税收返还越多的地区税收努力下降速度越快。后“营改增”时期,如何提高税收效率,缓解地方财政收入对转移支付和债务收入的依赖性,是理顺中央和地方财税关系,完善财税收入体系的重要问题。     

Ad Valorem Taxation on Intermediate Goods in Oligopoly

Thepaper compares the efficiency of value added taxation (VAT),in which intermediate goods are not taxed, with that of cascadetaxation, in which they are, when levied on imperfectly-competitivevertically-related industries. One type of commodity taxationis not always superior to the other in terms of welfare. Indeed,when intermediate-goods have close substitutes, VAT is the optimalcommodity tax system. But when input substitutability is weakor absent and input producers have market power, they shouldbe taxed. In fact, in the absence of lump sum taxes and withno input substitutability, it is optimal to tax, not to subsidize,the most monopolistic industry. True cascading, in which bothupstream and downstream industries are taxed, is thus betterthan VAT when, besides no input substitutability and both intermediateand final good producers with market power, the needed revenuerequirement is not small. We therefore submit a rationale forthe coexistence of VAT and cascade taxation.     

Coordinating VATs Between EU Member States

The paper surveys coordination requirements for a final European VAT (short for viable integrated VAT) system. Using a set of criteria that can be identified from the EU VAT program for the single market, we analyze the potential superiority of the Commission's 1996 VAT proposal and four alternative VAT systems over the current transitional regime. We argue that the recent withdrawal of the 1996 VAT proposal is economically beneficial, as this VAT reform would have generated substantial costs for EU member states due to losses in national tax autonomy and adverse incentives in VAT collection and control. If the Commission adheres to its political desiderata, the VIVAT regime turns out to be a promising blueprint for the EU. If the Commission decides to lay aside its preference for compliance symmetry, and accepts that different treatment of domestic and cross-border supplies under the transitional VAT regime should not be regarded discriminatory in the Internal Market, then keeping and revising the transitional system should turn out to be a good VAT strategy for Europe.