Vanuatu VAT registration threshold
Vanuatu VAT registration threshold is 4000000 VUV, in force since 1 Aug 1998. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
The turnover at which VAT registration becomes compulsory in Vanuatu, with the period the test runs over, the rule for non-established suppliers, and any separate treatment of imported digital services.
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What this value means
PERIOD BASIS: rolling-year twin test, and an 'has exceeded'/'will exceed' test — exactly VT 4,000,000 does not trigger it. Backward (s.12(1)(a)): at the END of any month, over the year ending with that month. Forward (s.12(1)(b)): at the START of any month, over the year starting with that month, on reasonable grounds. s.12(2): in applying the test, EXEMPT supplies are disregarded, as are supplies the Director is satisfied arise solely from cessation or substantial and permanent reduction in scale of the activity or the replacement of plant or capital assets. Application to the Director within 21 DAYS of becoming liable (s.12(3)). Voluntary registration for anyone carrying on or intending to carry on a taxable activity (s.12(4)); since the VAT (Amendment) Act 2009 (in force 1 Jan 2010) the Director 'may issue' a certificate of registration under s.12(5)/(5A). Deregistration under s.13 where supplies fall below the threshold. NON-ESTABLISHED SUPPLIERS: no separate threshold and no vendor-collection regime — the VT 4,000,000 test counts only 'supplies made in Vanuatu', and place of supply (s.7) determines that. s.7(1): supplies by a non-resident are deemed made OUTSIDE Vanuatu, unless s.7(2) applies — (a) goods in Vanuatu at the time of supply, or (b) services physically performed in Vanuatu by a person in Vanuatu at the time. Even then, s.7(3) flips a s.7(2) supply back to 'outside Vanuatu' when made to a registered person entitled to an input deduction (unless supplier and recipient agree otherwise) — so a non-resident's B2B supplies largely never count toward the threshold. The VAT (Amendment) Act No. 2 of 2019 (assent and commencement 24 June 2019) narrowed the s.7 non-resident concept to 'a non-resident of Vanuatu that is not carrying on business in Vanuatu through a fixed place of business' — a non-resident WITH a fixed place of business in Vanuatu is treated like a resident supplier and faces the ordinary threshold. Imported goods are taxed at the border regardless of turnover. IMPORTED DIGITAL SERVICES: nothing — Vanuatu has NO reverse charge on imported services (no equivalent of the NZ s.8(4B)/PNG s.14 mechanism in CAP 247) and NO non-resident digital-services registration regime as of August 2026. Services supplied from outside Vanuatu by a non-resident without a fixed place of business are simply outside the tax; B2C digital supplies to Vanuatu consumers are untaxed. Traps: (1) The figure has never moved: VT 4,000,000 since the Act as enacted in 1998 — but the s.12(1)(b) forward limb refers to 'the registration threshold amount', defined in s.2 only as 'the amount applying under section 12', i.e. the four million vatu written into s.12(1)(a); there is no regulation-making power to change it without amending the Act. (2) 'Has exceeded' — exactly VT 4,000,000 does not oblige registration. (3) Exempt supplies are disregarded but ZERO-RATED supplies (Schedule 3, incl. exports) count toward the threshold. (4) The backward limb tests at month-end, the forward limb at month-start — not calendar or financial years. (5) For non-residents the s.7(3) election matters: a supply physically performed in Vanuatu for a registered business customer is deemed OUTSIDE Vanuatu (no VAT, no threshold count) unless the parties agree otherwise — mechanically opposite to a reverse charge, and it makes many non-resident contractors non-registrable. (6) Since 24 June 2019 a non-resident operating through a fixed place of business in Vanuatu is NOT within the s.7(2)/(3) special rules at all — it is under the ordinary resident-style rule and threshold. (7) There is no reverse charge: importing services never creates registration exposure for the recipient (contrast Tonga s.6(2A)). (8) The rate rose from 12.5% to 15% on 1 January 2024 — a rate event only; aggregators sometimes misreport it as a broader reform; no post-2021 amendment touches s.12 (PacLII sessional series and DCIR guidance checked; DCIR still publishes VT 4 million). (9) PacLII's consolidated text is the 2006 Consolidated Edition — the 2009 (certificates), 2019 (terminology, s.7 fixed-place test) and 2021 amendments are not folded in; read s.12/s.7 together with those amendment Acts.
Get it programmatically
curl https://ausref.dev/v1/vu/vat-registration-threshold
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://ausref.dev/v1/vu/vat-registration-threshold/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://ausref.dev/provenance/vu/vat-registration-thresholdOther Vanuatu series: RBV Rate (Reserve Bank of Vanuatu policy interest rate) · VAT standard rate · National minimum wage rate (hourly) · Public holidays · CPI inflation (year-on-year) · Corporate income tax rate · Withholding tax rates · Statutory interest on debts and judgments · Personal income tax brackets · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Australia · Fiji · New Zealand · Papua New Guinea · Samoa · all 8