The number of indirect tax increases fell from 154 in the first quarter of 2011 to 107 in the first quarter of this year.
The latest ONESOURCE Indirect Tax rate report from Thomson Reuters found that the total number of state, county and city sales tax increases in the U.S. declined from 100 to 90, while the number of value-added tax increases globally dropped from 54 to 17. There were 30 percent fewer indirect tax increases reported globally in the first quarter of 2012 than there were during the same period in 2011
The global Q1 2012 report found that In the U.S., the average state sales tax was 5.48 percent in Q1 2012, down from 5.52 percent in Q1 2011. In Europe, a number of countries—France, Ireland, Norway, Hungary, Cyprus, and the Czech Republic—raised VAT rates in Q1. In Asia, China added a reduced rate for the sale of self-used fixed assets sold in the Shanghai VAT Pilot Region. Overall, there were 446 changes to indirect tax rates in Q1 2012, down significantly from 2,154 in Q1 2011.
“Global companies had to comply with nearly 450 tax changes this past quarter,” said Thomson Reuters vice president of tax research and content Carla Yrjanson in a statement. “Without the right technology, domain expertise and accurate tax information, a company would find it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve compliance with confidence in a timely fashion.”
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