Regulatory Analysis

The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration recently announced its quarterly local sales and use tax rate changes, effective July 1, 2026. The local county sales tax rate has decreased in Cross County to 2.125% and in Jackson County to 1.875%. At the city level, the local sales tax rate increased in El Dorado to […]

Massachusetts lawmakers recently set the date for the annual sales tax holiday. The 2026 holiday will take place August 8th and 9th. During the holiday, the state’s 6.25% sales tax is suspended for most retail items priced under $2,500. For more information on the announcement of the annual sales tax holiday in Massachusetts click here.

Austria has passed an amendment to its VAT law imposing a new 4.9% reduced VAT rate on certain essential food items. The new rate will take effect on July 1, 2026. The rate will apply to milk, yogurt, butter, eggs, vegetables, certain fruits, flour, rice, uncooked pasta, bread, and table salt.

Beginning July 1, 2026, nonelectronic school supplies, such as backpacks, lunchboxes, notebooks, pens and pencils, crayons, rulers and paper, are exempt from sales tax in Connecticut. For more information, see Section 272 of the act (amending Section 12-412 of the Connecticut General Statutes).

The National Meeting of State Tax Coordinators and Administrators (Encat) recently published Technical Note 2026.001, which addresses the connection between electronic fiscal documents (DF-e) and payment information, in the context of the future implementation of the split payment model outlined in the Tax Reform. The Technical Note effectively introduced a technical adjustment to the layout […]

Colorado House Bill 1289 temporarily suspends the sales and use tax exemption for property used in space flight, starting January 1, 2027 through December 31, 2029. Beginning January 1, 2030, the exemption will be reinstated to its original scope.More information may be found here.

South Carolina legislature recently passed bill HB 5122 introducing an exemption for certain supplies purchased by internet access service providers and communications service providers. All supplies, technical equipment, machinery, and electricity sold to internet access service providers and communications service providers, for use in producing, broadcasting, or distributing internet access service, communications services, or any […]

Colorado recently passed House Bill 1223, which eliminates the sales and use tax exemption for downloaded software. The legislation does, however, create a new exemption for downloaded software governed by a negotiable license or custom-built for a specific user. Both changes take effect January 1, 2027. More information may be found here.

Alaska recently passed House Bill 1, which exempts certain gold and silver bullion from local sales and use tax. The legislation also recognizes select specie as a form of legal tender in the state. Both provisions take effect August 28, 2026.More information may be found here.

The Colorado Department of Revenue published local sales and use tax changes effective July 1, 2026. Changes include rate increases, adopted exemptions, and newly imposed sales taxes in jurisdictions such as Sanford, Pueblo Rural Fire Protection District, and Upper Pine River Fire Protection District. More information concerning the July 1, 2026 local changes may be […]

Finances Quebec published Information Bulletin 2026-4 on May 25, 2026. The bulletin details additional food categories and hygiene products that will be zero-rated. These items included toilet paper, fruit salads, ice cream, and donuts. The zero-rate does not apply if the food items are sold at establishments where food sales are taxable under current QST […]

Botswana is officially joining the growing list of jurisdictions taxing the digital economy. Under the Value Added Tax (Amendment) Act, 2025, non-resident suppliers of remote and digital services will be required to register for and collect Botswana VAT on B2C supplies made to local customers. Registration for non-resident suppliers of remote services began on June […]

South Carolina enacted House Bill 5208, amending S.C. Code § 12-36-2120(75) to clarify that the unprepared food exemption remains unaffected by “any demonstration project pursuant to United States Department of Agriculture regulations that would limit the use of food coupons on otherwise eligible items for a limited period of time.” In other words, any temporary […]

The Manitoba legislature recently passed Bill 53, which among other provisions, broadens the scope of food subject to exemption from the Retail Sales Tax (RST) effective July 1, 2026. With the bill’s passage, most food items are exempt, so long as they are not sold by restaurants, licensed premises specified in a liquor service license, […]

On 7 May 2026, the Portuguese Council of Ministers approved a draft Decree-Law setting out a new organic law for the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM). According to a government source cited by the newspaper Público, the draft would raise the levy charged on Life, Health, Accident and Motor insurance premiums from 2.5% to […]

Recently, Governor Lee signed House Bill 2186 which permits counties with a metropolitan government to vote on lowering or exempting local sales tax on food and food ingredients. Any change to the tax will take effect on the first calendar day of the month occurring 60 days after notice is provided to the Department of […]

The Internal Revenue Service has revised Form 8508 (Rev. 5-2026), Application for a Waiver from Electronic Filing of Information Returns. The form is used to request a waiver from the electronic filing requirement for a range of information returns filed through the FIRE and IRIS systems. The only substantive change is to the list of […]

The IRS has released its 2026 edition of Form 15397, the Application for Extension of Time to Furnish Recipient Statements.  This form permits filers of tax information returns to request extensions for issuing statements to recipients.  The form covers W-2, W-2G, 1042-S, 1095, 1097, 1098, 1099, 3921, 3922, and 5498 returns, including subdivisions of those […]