Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 29 / Trend A. Badalova /
Interest rates on taxes, particularly on value added tax (VAT) will change in some countries from early next year.
Since Jan.1, 2011, the VAT rate will increase in Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Switzerland, U.K. and Malaysia.
A report posted on the official website of the Latvian Finance Ministry says that according to the country's approved draft budget for 2011, the VAT base rate from January next year will increase from 21 percent to 22 percent, while reduced VAT rate will increase from 10 percent to 12 percent.
According to DELFI, the network of the biggest news Internet portals in the Baltic countries, after increasing the base rate on VAT, Latvia will be among the European Union countries with the highest VAT rate.
The highest VAT rate of 25 percent is fixed in the EU countries of Denmark, Hungary and Sweden, whereas the lowest rate was fixed in Cyprus, Luxembourg at 15 percent.
According to foreign media outlets, from Jan.1 2011, the VAT rate will increase from 22 to 23 percent in Poland, from 21 to 23 percent in Portugal, from 19 to 20 percent in Slovakia, from 7.6 to 8 percent in Switzerland and from 5 percent to 6 percent in Malaysia.
In the U.K., the VAT rate will increase from 17.5 percent to 20 percent from Jan. 4.