Country and European Union News October 2025

3 October 2025

Slovakian VAT rate change from January 2026

The Slovakian parliament has confirmed that, from 1 January 2026, it will increase the VAT rate on foods with high sugar or salt content from 19% to 23%. This includes items such as:

• Chocolate and confectionary
• Biscuits and cakes
• Ice cream and jam
• Sweetened soft drinks
• Salty snacks such as crisps

It was also confirmed that this VAT rate change will not apply to certain essential food items, including sugar, salt, baby food, dairy drinks, yogurts, foods for diabetics, and fruit juices with no added sugar.

Nigeria to implement VAT on foreign digital services from 1 January 2026

Nigeria will introduce VAT at 7.5% on digital services provided by foreign providers to local Nigerian consumers.

The new tax will be introduced from 1 January 2026 and affected companies will not be required to register until they exceed an annual threshold of USD 25,000 (approx. £18.500).

Belgium launches guidance on Mandatory Structured E-invoicing for VAT

The Belgian Ministry of Finance has published new online guidance regarding the mandatory introduction of B2B e-invoicing, effective from 1 January 2026.

Under this new regime, all resident VAT-registered companies will be required to issue invoices in electronic format when selling to other businesses. These invoices must be submitted to the Belgian tax authorities for verification via a new e-invoicing platform.

Poland releases e-invoice implementation update (KSeF)

The Polish parliament approved the draft KSeF e-invoicing bill, which will introduce mandatory e-invoicing in stages:

• From 1 February 2026: for taxpayers with annual turnover exceeding PLN 200 million (approx. £39m) in the previous year.
• From 1 April 2026: for all other taxpayers.

The Polish Ministry of Finance also published a KSeF support manual relating to the how KSeF will be introduced.

Once implemented, KSeF will require both resident and non-resident companies with a fixed establishment in Poland that supply VAT-registered businesses in the country to declare their sales to the Polish tax authorities through a new e-invoicing platform. This will replace the current process of issuing invoices directly to customers.

The regime was originally scheduled to go live in July 2024, but following a technical audit it was determined that the system needed to be rebuilt, resulting in the revised timeline.

Greece to impose mandatory e-invoicing

Greece has become the latest EU country to approve legislation to impose mandatory e-invoicing. 

The new regime will apply to resident businesses selling to VAT-registered customers in Greece, as well as to export sales to non-EU markets. Implementation will be phased as follows:

• From 1 February 2026: for large resident companies with revenues above €1 million in 2023.
• From 1 October 2026: for all remaining resident taxpayers.

Once in force, affected businesses will be required to report their sales to the Greek tax authorities through the existing myDATA electronic accounting and transaction reporting system, rather than issuing invoices directly to customers.

The aim of this e-invoicing regime is to combat VAT fraud by giving tax authorities real-time visibility into when VAT is charged and collected.