Trinidad and Tobago Value Added Tax standard rate
Trinidad and Tobago Value Added Tax standard rate is 12.5 percent, in force since 1 Feb 2016. It was 15 percent before that. Last checked against the official source on 23 Jul 2026.
Standard rate of value added tax on the entry of imported goods and on the supply of goods and services in Trinidad and Tobago, imposed under the Value Added Tax Act, Chap. 75:06, section 7(1), and administered by the Board of Inland Revenue.
| Current value | 12.5 percent |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2016-02-01 |
| Official source | Value Added Tax Act, Chap. 75:06, section 7(1) — 'The amount of the tax shall be calculated in accordance with this Act at the rate of twelve and one-half per cent or such other rate as the Minister by Order specifies, except in the case of an entry or a supply that is zero-rated' (Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs consolidated text) |
| Last verified | 2026-07-23 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
12.5 per cent since 1 February 2016, when the standard rate was cut from 15 per cent as part of the 2016 fiscal package; the Ministry of Finance's own guidance confirms 'the standard rate of VAT was reduced from 15% to 12.5%'. Section 7(1) also lets the Minister vary the rate by Order, but any such Order is subject to affirmative resolution of Parliament (s. 7(2)), so the rate cannot move quietly. Zero-rated entries and supplies are listed in Schedule 2 (basic unprocessed foods, certain agricultural inputs, exports, prescription drugs); exempt supplies are in Schedule 1. TRAP — STALE COPIES: several government-hosted PDFs of the Act are older consolidations that still read 'fifteen per cent' in s. 7(1), including the Ministry of Trade and Industry copy (tradeind.gov.tt, updated to 30 June 2013) and the Customs and Excise copy. Use the Legal Affairs (rgd.legalaffairs.gov.tt) consolidation cited here, which carries the amended 'twelve and one-half per cent'. ACCESS NOTE: customs.gov.tt refused TLS connections at confirmation (ECONNREFUSED); finance.gov.tt PDFs fetch fine but its HTML pages sometimes 403 automated clients.
Earlier values
| From | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1990-01-01 | 15 | Value Added Tax Act, Chap. 75:06, s. 7(1) as originally… |
Get it programmatically
curl https://latamref.dev/v1/tt/vat
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://latamref.dev/v1/tt/vat/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://latamref.dev/provenance/tt/vatOther Trinidad and Tobago series: CBTT Repo Rate (repurchase rate) · VAT registration threshold · National Minimum Wage (hourly) · Public holidays · CPI inflation (year-on-year) · Corporation tax standard rate · Withholding tax rates · Statutory interest on judgment debts · Personal income tax rates · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: Uruguay · Argentina · Barbados · Belize · Bolivia · all 22