In brief — three regulators softened a mandate in the same month, and Brazil turned its reform into a date:
- Brazil — Ato Conjunto RFB/CGIBS Nº 4 of 30 July 2026 fixes the mandatory CBS/IBS start date for each electronic fiscal document. NF-e, NFC-e, CT-e, MDF-e and six others start today, 3 August 2026, then 1 October, 15 November, 1 December and 1 January 2027.
- France — a decree and an order of 27 July 2026 abolish the Portail Public de Facturation as a routing channel, leaving accredited private platforms only, and create a formal platform-switching procedure.
- France — DGFiP’s start-up guide says no sanctions for businesses on a serious compliance trajectory, while stating this is “neither a deferral nor a suspension” of the 1 September obligation.
- United Arab Emirates — the large-taxpayer deadline to appoint an Accredited Service Provider moved from 31 July to 30 October 2026; go-live remains 1 January 2027.
- United Arab Emirates — FTA Directives 4 and 5 of 2026 set the VAT treatment of life-insurance fees and the valuation method for deemed supplies of services.
- United Kingdom — the Capital Goods Scheme threshold rose from £250,000 to £600,000 on 29 July 2026 and computers left the scheme entirely.
- United Kingdom — VAT on domestic electricity is to fall from 5% to 0% on 1 October 2026, announced but not yet legislated.
- Hungary — Act XXXV of 2026 makes the stricter M-sheet invoice-level deduction reporting optional, reversing the tightening that was due to bite from 1 July 2026.
- Malaysia — an e-Invoice voluntary disclosure programme runs from 7 July 2026 to 31 December 2027 with no penalty for corrections made through MyInvois.
- Bangladesh — the Finance Act 2026 makes a BIN mandatory for bank accounts, loans and utility connections, charges 15% VAT by reverse charge on all imported services, moves VAT returns from monthly to quarterly, and raises Turnover Tax to 4% pending a fixed sector amount capped at BDT 200,000.
- Kenya — the Finance Act 2026 excludes pass-through employee costs from the taxable value of outsourcing, opens input VAT recovery on supplies to the defence and security services, restores the three-year bad-debt window, and exempts PPP infrastructure supplies.
- South Africa — Interpretation Note 31 (Issue 5) resets the documentary proof needed to zero-rate a going-concern sale.
- Serbia — the e-invoicing Rulebook amendments took effect 1 August 2026 and build a Preliminary VAT Return into the SEF system for periods from 2027.
- Italy — the split-payment derogation is extended to 30 June 2029.
- Iceland — the temporary 11% VAT on petrol and diesel expires 31 August 2026 and the rate returns to 24%.
- United States — six northern Illinois counties took a 0.25% transit-tax increase on 1 August, and Ohio’s sales tax holiday runs 7–9 August.
- Ghana, Malawi and Maldives — three long-open coverage gaps closed: a GHS 750,000 registration threshold, the end of Electronic Fiscal Devices, and TGST at 17%.
Announced this week
Europe
France — e-invoicing: the state portal is gone, and switching platforms is now a procedure
Décret n° 2026-677 du 27 juillet 2026, in force from 29 July, removes the Portail Public de Facturation as a reception and routing channel, leaving accredited private platforms as the only route five weeks before go-live. The same decree writes a formal platform-switching procedure into the tax code.
The switching notice periods, the one-year continuity duty, and the source →
France — e-invoicing: the conformance standards are now in the order, not just the specs
The companion Arrêté du 27 juillet 2026, published the same day, requires accredited platforms to conform to AFNOR XP Z12-012, XP Z12-013 and XP Z12-014.
What each standard covers, and what to ask a provider →
France — VAT: a documented soft landing that is explicitly not a delay
DGFiP published a start-up guide for 1 September 2026 stating that no sanctions will apply during the start-up phase to businesses that hit difficulties but are “engagées dans une trajectoire sérieuse de mise en conformité” — while stating plainly that this “ne constitue ni un report ni une suspension de l’obligation”.
The full wording, the Ministry press release, and why the distinction matters →
United Kingdom — VAT: the Capital Goods Scheme gets smaller in both directions
The Value Added Tax (Amendment) Regulations 2026 (S.I. 2026/765) raised the Capital Goods Scheme threshold for land and buildings from £250,000 to £600,000 and removed computers from the capital items list entirely, both from 29 July 2026 and neither applying to earlier expenditure.
The commencement trap, and why you now run two populations →
United Kingdom — VAT: 0% on domestic electricity, announced but not yet law
The Prime Minister announced on 21 July 2026 that VAT on domestic household electricity would fall from 5% to 0% from 1 October 2026. As at 3 August no implementing statutory instrument had been made, so we record this as proposed, not enacted — build the rate, do not switch it on.
What was announced, and why the distinction matters →
Serbia — e-invoicing: the VAT return moves inside the invoicing system
Serbia’s Ministry of Finance amended the Rulebook on Electronic Invoicing in Službeni glasnik RS 71/2026 on 31 July 2026, formally introducing the Preliminary VAT Return (PPP PDV) generated inside the SEF system. Most provisions took effect 1 August 2026; the return applies to tax periods beginning after 31 December 2026.
The forms, the outage rules, and why this inverts reconciliation →
Italy — VAT: split payment runs to 2029
The Council of the European Union extended Italy’s split-payment derogation — Implementing Decision (EU) 2017/784 — from 30 June 2026 to 30 June 2029, with effect from 1 July 2026. No action for suppliers; the mechanism simply continues.
The scope, the reporting deadline, and the fortnight the authorisation had lapsed →
Middle East & Africa
United Arab Emirates — e-invoicing: the appointment deadline moves to 30 October
Ministerial Decision No. 66 of 2026 amended Ministerial Decision No. 244 of 2025: taxable persons with revenue of AED 50,000,000 or more must appoint an FTA-Accredited Service Provider by 30 October 2026 and go live on 1 January 2027. The Ministry of Finance describes this as an extension of the appointment deadline from 31 July 2026, so the earlier date was real — it moved.
The full phasing, and the amending decision behind it →
United Arab Emirates — VAT: two directives on insurance fees and deemed supplies
The FTA issued two directives in July. Directive No. 4 (14 July) treats fees bundled into a life insurance contract as part of the exempt supply, while independently charged services stay taxable. Directive No. 5 (20 July) sets the valuation method for deemed supplies of services under Article 37.
The bundling test → · The deemed-supplies calculation →
South Africa — invoice requirements: new documentary proof for going-concern sales
SARS issued Interpretation Note 31 (Issue 5) on 17 July 2026, resetting the documentary proof it accepts for zero-rated supplies. A going-concern disposal now needs the sale contract, a tax invoice, and the recipient’s VAT Notice of Registration on file.
The full Table A and B requirements, and the item most often missing →
Kenya — VAT: four changes in the Finance Act 2026
Kenya’s Finance Act, 2026 (Act No. 19 of 2026), signed on 23 June 2026, makes four VAT changes with effect from 1 July 2026 — one commercially significant, one running the other way, and two new exemption routes.
Outsourcing: pass-through payroll leaves the taxable value → · Input VAT on defence and security supplies → · Bad-debt refunds revert to three years → · PPP and large-infrastructure exemptions →
A sourcing note, since it bears on how much weight to put on all four: Kenya Law returns HTTP 403 to us on every route, so the statutory wording comes from advisory alerts corroborated against each other rather than from the Act itself. The substance of all four changes is corroborated across four independent trackers. The specific First Schedule paragraph numbers circulating for the infrastructure exemptions are not — they appear in one alert only, so we have deliberately left them out.
Asia-Pacific
Malaysia — e-invoicing: a penalty-free window to fix what went wrong
HASiL launched the e-Invoice Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme on 7 July 2026, running to 31 December 2027. Corrections made through MyInvois inside the window carry no penalty, whether the gap is missing submissions, bad data, or nothing submitted at all.
Who qualifies, the capital-allowance change, and what to reconcile →
Americas
Brazil — e-invoicing: the CBS/IBS reform finally has per-document dates
Receita Federal and the Comitê Gestor do IBS published Ato Conjunto RFB/CGIBS Nº 4 on 30 July 2026, setting the date from which each type of electronic fiscal document must carry the new CBS and IBS fields. NF-e, NFC-e, CT-e and seven other document types are mandatory from 3 August 2026, with further waves on 1 October, 15 November and 1 December 2026 and 1 January 2027.
Full per-document dates, the Duimp and non-ICMS carve-outs, and the source →
United States — sales tax: Illinois raises transit rates, Ohio narrows its holiday
Six northern Illinois counties took a 0.25% Northern Illinois Transit Authority increase on 1 August 2026. Separately, Ohio’s sales tax holiday runs 7–9 August — three days with $75 and $20 caps, a reversion from the two-week, $500 holidays of 2024 and 2025.
The Illinois rates, which differ by county and category → · Ohio’s narrower holiday, and what your engine will wrongly exempt →
Deadlines on the horizon
Iceland — 1 September 2026: fuel VAT returns to 24%
The temporary 11% VAT rate on petrol and diesel was introduced by Lög nr. 34/2026 with an expiry written into the law itself: it applies only from 1 May to 31 August 2026. No extending or repealing law had been published in Stjórnartíðindi A-deild as at 3 August 2026, the most recent entry being 30 July. Absent an extension, the rate reverts to the 24% standard rate on 1 September. (Stjórnartíðindi, Skatturinn)
What it means: This is a reversion that happens by default — nobody has to legislate for the rate to go back up, which is exactly why it gets missed. A 13-point move on fuel, at the pump, with four weeks’ notice and no announcement to prompt it.
Elsewhere in the next quarter
- United Arab Emirates, 30 October 2026 — Accredited Service Provider appointed, for revenue of AED 50 million or more.
- Brazil, 1 October and 1 December 2026 — the second and third waves of CBS/IBS document types.
- United Kingdom, 1 October 2026 — the announced 0% domestic electricity rate, if the statutory instrument is made in time.
- Serbia, 1 January 2027 — Preliminary VAT Return generation for tax periods beginning after 31 December 2026.
- United Arab Emirates, 1 January 2027 — Electronic Invoicing System go-live for large taxpayers.
Themes this week
Three regulators softened a mandate in the same month. France published a no-sanctions start-up posture five weeks before its go-live. Malaysia opened an eighteen-month penalty-free disclosure window for e-Invoice failures already committed. Hungary made a stricter invoice-reporting format optional after it had technically taken effect. These are independent decisions in unrelated systems, and they point the same way: the enforcement calendar is being decoupled from the compliance calendar. The obligations did not move in any of the three cases — only the consequences of missing them.
The contested question is no longer whether to report, but who runs the pipe. France abolished its state portal outright and wrote a platform-switching procedure into the tax code, complete with notice periods and a one-year continuity duty. The UAE fixed a date by which large taxpayers must have appointed an accredited provider — two months before the system they will use goes live. Serbia went the other way and moved the VAT return itself inside the state platform. Two opposite architectures, both settling their intermediary question this month.
Effective dates are drifting away from the announcements that carry them. Bangladesh delivered two budget measures by SRO effective 11 June, three weeks before the fiscal-year date everyone reported. The UAE’s appointment deadline moved from 31 July to 30 October by an amending decision that landed months after the original date was widely reported. Iceland’s fuel rate reverts on 1 September with no announcement at all, because the expiry was written into the original law. In each case the date in the source document differs from the date in the coverage.
Simplification and expansion are running simultaneously. The UK lifted a threshold and removed an entire asset class from a scheme; Kenya narrowed the taxable value of outsourcing and reopened input recovery; Hungary withdrew a reporting requirement. At the same time Brazil began staging mandatory fields across ten document types, Serbia built a pre-populated return, and the UAE set accreditation deadlines. The direction of travel is not one-way, and the reduction in obligations is concentrated in what businesses must calculate, while the increase is concentrated in what they must transmit.