In brief — a quiet early-July week of administrative change, two authorities tightening and two easing:
- India — From 1 August 2026 GSTN makes a new “Ship-to GSTIN” field mandatory in the e-invoice and e-way-bill APIs and adds a voluntary e-way-bill closure facility (advisory dated 17 June 2026).
- Philippines — BIR Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 59-2026 (2 June 2026) tightens VAT compliance for non-resident digital-service providers, including a 12% reverse charge on cross-border cost-sharing arrangements.
- Hungary — The Ministry of Finance will legislate to shelve the stricter invoice-level “M-sheet” VAT-reporting rules that were technically due on 1 July 2026.
- United States (Illinois) — The Department of Revenue opens a Remote Retailer Tax Amnesty from 1 August to 31 October 2026, waiving interest and penalties on unpaid sales tax back to January 2021.
This is a deliberately thin issue: the big 1 July 2026 go-lives (EU low-value imports, Sri Lanka digital services, the UAE e-invoicing pilot, the US local-rate wave) were already reported in Issues #10–#12. What remains this week is administrative — how tax authorities are calibrating the compliance burden up and down. Each fact is tied to its official source.
Announced this week
Asia-Pacific & South Asia
India — GST: mandatory “Ship-to GSTIN” in e-invoice APIs, plus voluntary e-way-bill closure
GSTN issued an advisory dated 17 June 2026 changing the e-Invoice API and the e-Way Bill-by-IRN API. Capture of a “Ship-to GSTIN” field becomes mandatory for Bill-to/Ship-to transactions (using “URP” where the consignee is unregistered), and a new voluntary e-Way Bill closure facility lets the supplier, recipient or transporter mark a consignment’s movement as complete. The changes are released in the sandbox first and take effect in the production environment from 1 August 2026. (GSTN advisory)
What it means: This is an API-level tightening for large taxpayers and their ASP/GSP software vendors — the Ship-to GSTIN requirement forces cleaner bill-to/ship-to data, while the voluntary closure feature is a convenience that reduces stale, open e-way bills. It follows the earlier (Issue #10) deferral of related e-way-bill functionality to 1 August 2026, so August is now the hard integration date for both.
Philippines — VAT: non-resident digital-services rules clarified (RMC 59-2026)
The Bureau of Internal Revenue issued Revenue Memorandum Circular No. 59-2026 on 2 June 2026, clarifying the VAT-on-digital-services regime under Republic Act No. 12023 and Revenue Regulations No. 3-2025. Non-resident digital service providers must register with the BIR and file VAT returns even where their supplies are VAT-exempt, and in cross-border cost-sharing arrangements the Philippine user of the service is responsible for withholding and remitting the 12% VAT under the reverse-charge mechanism. (Grant Thornton Philippines, citing BIR RMC 59-2026)
What it means: The Philippines’ non-resident digital-services VAT has been in force since mid-2025; this circular closes interpretation gaps — most notably confirming that a VAT exemption does not remove registration and filing duties, and that intra-group platform-fee flows are B2B reverse-charge events for the local entity.
Europe
Hungary — VAT: stricter “M-sheet” invoice-level reporting shelved before it starts
Hungary’s Ministry of Finance announced in late June 2026 that it will submit a bill to Parliament so that the stricter invoice-level “M-sheet” (M-lap) VAT-deduction reporting rules enacted by Act LXXXIII of 2025 — technically due to take effect on 1 July 2026 — need not be applied for any reporting period. Taxpayers may continue using the current M-sheet reporting rules pending the new legislation. (NAV / Ministry of Finance)
What it means: Businesses and software providers that had prepared for expanded line-item M-sheet reporting from July get a reprieve — but this is a policy announcement plus a pending bill, not yet enacted law, so it stays a “proposed” change until Parliament passes it. Watch for the enacting amendment.
North America
United States (Illinois) — sales tax: remote-retailer amnesty, 1 August–31 October
The Illinois Department of Revenue opened a 2026 Remote Retailer Tax Amnesty Program. Eligible remote retailers (those meeting the state’s economic-nexus threshold) may file a single application through MyTax Illinois between 1 August and 31 October 2026 to settle unpaid Retailers’ Occupation Tax for periods from 1 January 2021 through 30 June 2026, with all interest and penalties waived and simplified flat rates of 9% on general merchandise and 1.75% on qualifying food and drugs in place of destination-based rate calculation. (Illinois Department of Revenue)
What it means: This is a targeted clean-up for remote sellers who under-collected during Illinois’s shift to destination-based (“Leveling the Playing Field”) sourcing. The flat 9% / 1.75% rates spare retailers from reconstructing exact local rates across thousands of Illinois jurisdictions for five years of back periods — a pragmatic trade of precision for compliance.
Themes this week
- The calendar, not the legislature, set the agenda. With mid-year Finance Acts done and the 1 July go-lives already live, the week’s news is administrative fine-tuning rather than new rates or thresholds — no rate change appears in this issue.
- Compliance is being calibrated in both directions. India (e-invoice APIs) and the Philippines (digital-services VAT) are tightening; Hungary (M-sheet reporting) and Illinois (amnesty) are easing. The common thread is how tax is administered, not how much is charged.
- E-invoicing maturity shows up as plumbing. India’s change is at the API/field level — the story has moved from “will there be a mandate” to “what exact data must each document carry,” the sign of a maturing CTC system.
- Digital-services VAT enforcement follows the mandate. A year on from RA 12023, the Philippines is now issuing interpretive guidance (reverse charge, exempt-but-still-register) — the phase where the tax is operationalised for cross-border groups.
Sources
- India — GSTN, advisory on e-Invoice API and e-Way Bill by IRN API changes (Ship-to GSTIN; voluntary e-Way Bill closure): https://tutorial.gst.gov.in/downloads/news/advisory_einvoice_api_ewb_by_irn_approved.pdf
- India — JurisHour, GSTN mandates Ship-to GSTIN from 1 August 2026: https://www.jurishour.in/notification/gstn-mandates-ship-to-gstin-e-invoice-e-way-bill-apis/
- Philippines — Bureau of Internal Revenue, 2026 Revenue Memorandum Circulars (RMC 59-2026): https://www.bir.gov.ph/2026-Revenue-Memorandum-Circulars
- Philippines — Grant Thornton, BIR issues RMC 59-2026 on VAT for digital services: https://www.grantthornton.com.ph/insights/articles-and-updates1/tax-notes/bir-issues-rmc-592026-clarifying-guidelines-on-vat-for-digital-services/
- Hungary — NAV / Ministry of Finance, M-lap reporting rules will not change after all: https://nav.gov.hu/sajtoszoba/hirek/penzugyminiszterium-megsem-valtoznanak-az-afaban-az-m-lapos-szabalyok
- Hungary — KPMG Hungary, No additional M-sheet data reporting in H2 2026: https://kpmg.com/hu/en/insights/2026/06/taxalert-2026-06-30.html
- United States (Illinois) — Illinois Department of Revenue, Remote Retailer Tax Amnesty: https://tax.illinois.gov/programs/illinoistaxamnesty.html
- United States (Illinois) — Illinois.gov, 2026 Remote Retailer Tax Amnesty Program announcement: https://www.illinois.gov/news/press-release.32595.html