--- oa_review_kit: v1 guide_slug: tunisia-vat guide_version: tunisia-vat@2026-04-13T17:55:57.628Z archetype: vat_gst --- # Review kit: Tunisia VAT Thank you for reviewing this Guide. This kit is one file with three parts: how to use it, an interview prompt for your AI, and the Guide itself. ## How to use this kit (3 steps, about 15 minutes) 1. Open the AI you already use (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, anything that reads markdown) and paste in everything from "INTERVIEW PROMPT" below, including the Guide at the end. 2. Your AI interviews you like a colleague, one question at a time. Just talk: war stories, walk-throughs, the mistakes you catch. No writing required. 3. Your AI writes your answers up as a single markdown file. Hand it back at openaccountants.com/skills/tunisia-vat/handback (also linked from the Guide page: "Hand back your file"). What you added is published under your name and credential. If your AI cannot produce the exact output format, hand back whatever you have: a revised Guide file, a worksheet, or plain notes. We take those too, and a person reviews them by hand. The format below is the one we can apply straight away. --- # INTERVIEW PROMPT (paste from here down into your AI) You are interviewing a practising accountant about how they actually do the work covered by the attached Guide ("Tunisia VAT", slug `tunisia-vat`). Interview them like a colleague doing a handover. Do not lecture. Ask ONE question at a time and wait for the answer. Chase war stories and specifics: what kind of client, which portal step, how big the penalty was. The rates, thresholds, and citations are our job; we refresh those from primary sources. Capture ONLY what is NOT derivable from law: - order of operations, and what a wrong order corrupts - what to ask a client before computing anything - what to assume when a fact is unknown, and how it gets flagged - the most-missed traps, with penalty size and who falls in - how the portal or filing channel actually behaves - what has to reconcile before anyone signs - when to refuse the work and hand it to a human specialist If the accountant corrects a rate, threshold, or deadline in the Guide along the way, record it in the FACT CORRECTIONS table, but do not steer the interview toward numbers. ## Questions to work through Ask these in order, one at a time. Skip any the accountant has already covered; follow up where a story has specifics worth pinning down. Each question is tagged with the method slot(s) it feeds. 1. [sequence] Walk me through the last VAT return you prepared, start to finish. What did you open first, and why that order? 2. [intake_questions] [evidence] A new client hands you nothing but a bank statement. What do you do before you'll classify a single line? 3. [pattern_library] Which bank-statement line gets misclassified most often in your experience? What does it look like and where should it actually go? 4. [scope_gate] Tell me about a client you refused or referred out. What about their VAT situation made you stop? 5. [trap] When you review a return someone else drafted, what mistake do you catch most often? 6. [conservative_default] When you can't tell if a sale is domestic or cross-border, what do you assume, and how do you mark it? 7. [cross_check] Before you sign, what has to reconcile with what, and how close is close enough? 8. [filing_mechanics] Walk me through filing on the actual portal. What surprises first-timers: the order of forms, what locks, what you can't undo? 9. [judgment_rule] Ever had a client on a simplified scheme where the "simplification" made things worse? How do you decide who belongs on it? 10. [trap] What's the real penalty story you tell clients, the one that actually happened? 11. [evidence] Which claims will you draft from a bank statement but never file without the underlying paper? 12. [unsettled_law] Anything in VAT right now you deliberately won't finalise because the rules are moving? ## Method slots (for tagging the write-up) - `scope_gate` (Scope gate and refusals): when to stop and send the client to a human - `sequence` (Order of operations): what order to do things in, and what a wrong order corrupts - `intake_questions` (Client intake questions): what to ask a client before computing - `evidence` (Documents and evidence): which documents to insist on, and what is draft-grade vs file-grade - `judgment_rule` (Judgment rules): how a practitioner actually picks when the law allows two routes - `conservative_default` (Conservative defaults): what to assume when a fact is unknowable at draft time - `trap` (Traps and most-missed items): the mistakes everyone makes, what they cost, and who falls in - `filing_mechanics` (Portal and filing mechanics): how submission actually works: channel, order, what locks - `cross_check` (Cross-checks before signing): what has to reconcile with what before delivery, and how close is close enough - `pattern_library` (Pattern library): how messy real-world data (bank lines, payout platforms) maps to tax categories - `edge_case` (Edge-case playbook): the client situations that change the method, not just the numbers - `unsettled_law` (Unsettled-law flags): what not to finalise right now, and why - `handback_protocol` (Hand-back protocol): what the finished working paper contains and who reviews it ## Output format: oa-handback v1 When the interview is done, write the answers up as ONE markdown file in exactly this shape. Fill in the reviewer's real name, credential, and email (ask for them at the end if they have not come up). Every method block gets a `### [method:]` heading where `` is one of the 13 slot ids above. Keep `guide_slug` and `guide_version` exactly as given. Omit any section the interview produced nothing for, but keep the headings that remain exactly as shown. The `fact_key` column may be left blank when unknown. ```markdown --- oa_handback: v1 guide_slug: tunisia-vat guide_version: tunisia-vat@2026-04-13T17:55:57.628Z reviewer_name: reviewer_credential: # free text: CPA, EA, ACCA, Steuerberater... reviewer_email: verdict: --- ## METHOD ### [method:filing_mechanics] ### [method:intake_questions] - - ... ## FACT CORRECTIONS | fact_key | current | correct | source | |---|---|---|---| | | | | | ## FLAGS - [unsettled] - [refer] ## NOTES ``` If for any reason you cannot produce this exact format, output the accountant's corrections and methods as clear plain notes instead. The hand-back page accepts plain notes and revised Guide files too; this format is an optimization, never a gate. --- # THE GUIDE UNDER REVIEW --- name: tunisia-vat description: Use this skill whenever asked to prepare, review, or classify transactions for a Tunisia VAT (TVA) return. Three rates -- 19%/13%/7%. Unique suspension regime (not zero-rating). Droit de consommation interaction. Withholding TVA 25%. ALWAYS read before handling Tunisia TVA work. jurisdiction: TN domain: vat-gst tax_year: 2025 --- # tunisia-vat ## Section 1 -- Quick reference **Quick reference** | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Country | Tunisia | | Standard rate | 19% | | Intermediate rate | 13% (hotels/tourism, construction materials, legal/accounting) | | Reduced rate | 7% (basic foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, agricultural equipment, IT, low-voltage electricity) | | Suspension regime | Distinct from zero-rating (exporters with attestation) | | Filing portal | https://www.impots.finances.gov.tn | | Authority | Direction Generale des Impots (DGI) | | Currency | TND | | Filing frequency | Monthly (>= TND 1M) or Quarterly | | Deadline | 15th paper / 28th electronic of following month | | Registration | TND 100K goods / 50K services | | Withholding TVA | 25% of TVA amount | | Primary legislation | Code de la TVA (as amended) | | Contributor | Open Accounting Skills Registry | | Validated by | Pending | | Last research update | April 2026 | ## Section 2 -- Required inputs and refusal catalogue **Minimum viable** -- bank statement. Acceptable from BIAT (Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie), BNA (Banque Nationale Agricole), Amen Bank, STB, BT, ATB, or any Tunisian bank. - **R-TN-1 -- Offshore company** — Offshore entities have specific regime. Escalate. _(R-TN-1)_ ## Section 3 -- Supplier pattern library **Supplier pattern library** | Pattern | Treatment | Notes | | --- | --- | --- | | BIAT | EXCLUDE | Exempt financial | | BNA, BANQUE NATIONALE AGRICOLE | EXCLUDE | Same | | AMEN BANK, STB | EXCLUDE | Same | | BT, ATB | EXCLUDE | Same | | DGI | EXCLUDE | Tax payment | | DOUANE | Check for import TVA | | | CNSS, CNRPS | EXCLUDE | Social security | | STEG | Domestic (7% low-voltage / 19% commercial) | Electricity | | SONEDE | Domestic 7% or 19% | Water | | TUNISIE TELECOM, OOREDOO TN, ORANGE TN | Domestic 19% | Telecoms | | GOOGLE, MICROSOFT, AWS | Autoliquidation 19% | Non-resident | ## Section 4 -- Worked examples ### Example 1 -- Hotel at 13% Hotel room TND 200/night. TVA at 13%. Output TVA = TND 26. ### Example 2 -- Product subject to droit de consommation Cosmetics CIF TND 100K. DC at 25% = TND 25K. TVA base = TND 125K. TVA at 19% = TND 23,750. ### Example 3 -- Withholding TVA Ministry pays supplier. Invoice TND 50K + TVA 9.5K. Withholding 25% of 9.5K = TND 2,375. Supplier claims credit Line 24. ## Section 5 -- Classification rules - **Standard rate** — 19% - **Intermediate rate** — 13% (hotels/tourism, certain construction, legal/accounting) - **Reduced rate** — 7% (basic foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals, agricultural equipment, IT, buses for employee transport, low-voltage domestic electricity) - **2025 Finance Law -- real estate developers tiered rate** — Real estate developers tiered: 7% <= TND 400K, 19% > TND 400K _(2025 Finance Law)_ - **Suspension regime** — NOT zero-rating. Exporters (>= 80% export) with attestation de suspension buy without TVA. Supplier must verify attestation. - **Exempt categories** — Exempt: financial, education, medical, bread/cereals. ## Section 6 -- TVA return form Output: Lines 1-13 (19% sales, 13% sales, 7% sales, suspension, exempt, exports, total, TVA 19%, TVA 13%, TVA 7%, autoliquidation, adjustments, total brute). Input: Lines 14-21 (goods for resale, materials, services, capital goods, imports, autoliquidation input, exclusions, total deductible). Net: Lines 22-25 (due, credit reporte, retenue a la source, payable/credit). ## Section 7 -- Reverse charge and droit de consommation - **Reverse charge -- non-resident services** — Non-resident services: self-assess at applicable rate (usually 19%). Net zero. _(Code TVA Art. 19)_ - **Droit de consommation and TVA base** — Droit de consommation: excise on specific goods. TVA is calculated on price INCLUDING DC. DC is part of TVA base. ## Section 8 -- Deductibility and blocked input - **Blocked input items** — Blocked: vehicles < 9 seats, staff accommodation, entertainment/gifts, fuel for blocked vehicles, personal use, invoices without matricule fiscal. _(Code TVA Art. 10-12)_ - **Prorata calculation** — Prorata: includes suspension turnover in numerator. Annual recalculation. ## Section 9 -- Filing, deadlines, and penalties - **Filing deadlines** — Monthly 15th (paper) / 28th (electronic). Quarterly for small. - **Late filing penalty** — 1%/month (min TND 50) - **Late payment penalty** — 0.75%/month ## Section 10 -- Edge cases, test suite, and escalation - **EC1 -- SaaS** — Autoliquidation 19%. Net zero. - **EC2 -- Exporter with suspension** — Sales under suspension. Input fully recoverable. - **EC3 -- Hotel 13%** — Not 19%. - **EC4 -- Pharmaceuticals 7%** — Pharmaceuticals 7%. - **EC5 -- DC + TVA** — TVA on price INCLUDING DC. - **EC6 -- Withholding TVA** — 25% of TVA. Supplier claims credit. - **EC7 -- Suspension certificate purchase** — Invoice without TVA. Verify attestation. - **EC8 -- Mixed supply prorata** — Include suspension in numerator. TND 100K sale. TVA TND 19K (19%). Hotel TND 50K. TVA TND 6.5K (13%). Pharmacy TND 30K. TVA TND 2.1K (7%). French services TND 20K. Output 3.8K, input 3.8K. Net zero. Export TND 500K. Zero. Vehicle blocked. TND 50K + 9.5K TVA. Input = 0. Out of scope: IS 15%, PAYE 0%-35%, CNSS/CNRPS. ### Prohibitions - NEVER confuse suspension with exemption - NEVER apply wrong rate -- three rates exist - NEVER forget DC in TVA base - NEVER issue suspension invoice without verifying attestation - NEVER accept invoices without matricule fiscal - NEVER compute numbers -- engine handles arithmetic ## Disclaimer This skill and its outputs are provided for informational and computational purposes only and do not constitute tax, legal, or financial advice. Open Accountants and its contributors accept no liability for any errors, omissions, or outcomes arising from the use of this skill. All outputs must be reviewed and signed off by a qualified professional before filing or acting upon. The most up-to-date, verified version of this skill is maintained at [openaccountants.com](https://openaccountants.com).