Muhammad Bilal’s Post

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Head of Finance - Deputy Manager Finance at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre

what is value added tax VAT Value Added Tax (VAT) is a consumption tax that is added to the price of goods and services at every stage of the supply chain, from production to the point of sale. It is a type of indirect tax that is based on the value added at each stage of production or distribution. VAT is typically charged as a percentage of the final price of the product or service and is collected by businesses on behalf of the government. The aim of VAT is to generate revenue for the government and to ensure that the tax burden is distributed fairly across the economy. For example, if there is a 20% VAT on a product that costs $10, the consumer will end up paying a price of $12. Value Added Tax vs. Sales Tax Sales tax is very similar to VAT, with the key difference being that sales tax is assessed only once at the final stage of the purchase. Unlike VAT, which is assessed at each stage of purchase/production and paid by every successive buyer, sales tax is paid only once by the final consumer. A key advantage of VAT over sales tax is that the former can allocate the tax amount to different stages at production based on the value added at that stage. Since sales tax is only paid once by the final buyer, one cannot measure the value added at each production stage. It makes it difficult to track and allocate the sales tax to specific stages of production.

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