Digital Economy and Cross Border transactions : Valued-added Tax (VAT) Policy and Administration considerations for African Countries
Advancement in technology and the advent of the internet has given rise to business models that enable entities to conduct business across many jurisdictions without having any physical nexus in these jurisdictions. The entities supply goods and services, including intangibles, into multiple countries and receive payments without having a physical presence in the countries. Businesses are now also able to offer goods and services without owning any inventory or cost intensive tangible assets e.g. online platforms. Some of the most well-known examples of these entities are Amazon, Facebook, Google, Alibaba, Jumia, Konga et cetera. The operations of these entities are usually referred to as e-commerce and the totality of e-commerce and the peripheral industry is generally tagged as the Digital Economy.