In force 🚨 Action required Compliance

Samoa ends TIMS compliance extensions and starts enforcing fiscal-invoice penalties

Jurisdiction
Samoa
Tax
VAGST
Change type
Compliance
Status
In force
Impact
Action required
Announced
1 April 2026
Authority
Ministry for Revenue, Samoa
Systems
POS, Invoicing
Verified
Fetched from official source · high confidence
Who this affects

Samoan businesses registered for VAGST that are required to issue fiscal invoices through the Tax Invoice Monitoring System (TIMS).

What to do

Samoan businesses must be live on TIMS — compliance extensions have ended and penalties are being enforced.

POSInvoicing

The change

Samoa's Ministry of Revenue notified all taxpayers registered on the Tax Invoice Monitoring System (TIMS) that, following mandatory refresher training scheduled for 30 April - 7 May 2026, 'the Ministry will begin applying penalties and other forms of enforcement actions for taxpayers not issuing fiscal invoices and is no longer allowing extensions for full compliance.'

What changed in detail

Samoa’s Ministry for Revenue published a notice on 1 April 2026 announcing mandatory TIMS (Tax Invoice Monitoring System) refresher training, held 30 April – 7 May 2026 for taxpayers already registered on the system, ahead of a system upgrade. The notice states that the Ministry will begin applying penalties and other enforcement actions against taxpayers who do not issue fiscal invoices, and is no longer granting extensions for full compliance. No fixed enforcement date is stated beyond the completion of the training window.

What it means

Compliance has moved from encouraged to enforced. TIMS-registered businesses that have been issuing paper receipts or otherwise working around the fiscal-invoice requirement no longer have a grace period to rely on — penalties apply now. Confirm TIMS registration and device connectivity ahead of the next filing period, since asking for more time is explicitly no longer something the Ministry has said it will grant.

Proof

The Ministry will begin applying penalties and other forms of enforcement actions for taxpayers not issuing fiscal invoices and is no longer allowing extensions for full compliance.
TIMS Refresher Training for System Upgrade — Samoa Ministry for Revenue · captured 18 August 2026
Screenshot of Samoa Ministry for Revenue captured 18 August 2026, showing the quoted passage Source snapshot of the official page. Open full size ↗

Sources

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