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Trinidad and Tobago VAT registration threshold

Trinidad and Tobago VAT registration threshold is 600000 TTD, in force since 1 Jan 2023. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.

The turnover at which VAT/GST registration becomes compulsory in Trinidad and Tobago, with the period the test runs over, the rule for non-established suppliers, and any separate treatment of imported digital services.

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Current value600000 TTD
In force from2023-01-01
Official sourceValue Added Tax Act, Chap. 75:06 (Act No. 37 of 1989), ss.20-21: s.20(1) 'a person who ... makes a commercial supply is required to be registered', except (s.20(2)(b)) in the s.21 'low level supplies' circumstances - where over the twelve months ending with the month before the supply the value of his commercial supplies was not more than the threshold and there are reasonable grounds for believing the next twelve months will not exceed it. The s.21 figure was raised from five hundred thousand to six hundred thousand dollars by the Finance Act 2022 with effect from 1 January 2023; Inland Revenue Division (VAT - Application for Registration): 'All persons making commercial supplies of $600,000 (as of 1/1/2023) or more in the preceding twelve-month period or having evidence (in the sales forecast) supplies will exceed $600,000 in a twelve (12) month period must apply for VAT Registration.'
Last verified2026-08-10
Verificationprimary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited.
Provenancesource fingerprint

What this value means

PERIOD BASIS: value of commercial supplies over the twelve months ending with the month immediately before the month of the supply, PLUS a forward limb - registration may stay off only while there are also reasonable grounds to believe the coming twelve months will not be more than the threshold (s.21(1)(a)); the Board (BIR) can switch either way by written declaration (s.22). Structurally inverted versus most VAT laws: s.20 requires EVERYONE making a commercial supply to be registered, and s.21 carves out low-level suppliers - so the duty attaches to the first supply made outside the carve-out, and making a commercial supply while unregistered is itself an offence (s.20(3): fine of $15,000 and one year). Businesses under twelve months old: the carve-out holds only if the average MONTHLY value of commercial supplies stayed within the pre-2023 text's monthly figure (s.21(2); TTD 16,600/month in the consolidation, scaled with the annual figure - IRD applies TTD 50,000/month equivalence post-2023 as one-twelfth of 600,000). 'Commercial supplies' includes zero-rated supplies; exempt services are outside. NON-ESTABLISHED SUPPLIERS: same threshold, but the place-of-supply rule does most of the work - under s.16(1)(b) a non-resident's supply takes place in Trinidad and Tobago only if the goods are in T&T at the time of supply or the services are PHYSICALLY PERFORMED in T&T by a person who is in T&T at the time; otherwise a non-resident's supply is regarded as not taking place in T&T (s.16(2)). A non-resident B2B supply within s.16(1)(b) is regarded as outside T&T when made to a registered person for making commercial supplies, unless supplier and recipient agree otherwise (s.16(3)). There is no general reverse charge on imported services; imported goods bear VAT at the border regardless of the seller's turnover. IMPORTED DIGITAL SERVICES: no regime. Remotely delivered digital services from abroad fall outside the VAT net under s.16 (not physically performed in T&T), and Trinidad and Tobago has enacted no non-resident e-services registration or platform rules; the separate 7% Online Purchase Tax on goods imported by air freight following online purchases is a customs-side levy, not VAT. Traps: (1) The official consolidated Act on the Ministry of Legal Affairs site is 'updated to 31st December 2016' and still shows FIVE hundred thousand in ss.21-22 - the 600,000 figure comes from the Finance Act 2022 (assented December 2022, effective 1 January 2023) and appears in no free consolidation; quote the IRD figure for current law. (2) The threshold sits in s.21 (low level supplies), not in the registration sections (ss.24-25) - searching the Act for 'registration threshold' finds nothing. (3) It is a 'not more than' carve-out: exactly TTD 600,000 keeps you OUT of registration; the duty needs supplies in excess of it. (4) Both limbs of s.21(1)(a) must hold to stay unregistered - a big forward contract forces registration even with a small trailing year. (5) There is no grace period measured in days: the exemption lapses for the supply itself, and s.20(3) criminalises making the supply unregistered - the practical protection is applying under s.24 before crossing (a pending application suspends s.20(1) via s.20(2)(a)). (6) The previous rises (360,000 to 500,000 by Act 1 of 2016; 500,000 to 600,000 in 2023) tend to be reported from budget speeches a quarter before the law changed - anchor dates to 1 January 2016 and 1 January 2023, not to the September/October budget announcements.

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Other Trinidad and Tobago series: CBTT Repo Rate (repurchase rate) · Value Added Tax standard rate · 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