Panama ITBMS (VAT) standard rate
Panama ITBMS (VAT) standard rate is 7 percent, in force since 1 Jul 2010. It was 5 percent before that. Last checked against the official source on 20 Jul 2026.
Impuesto a la Transferencia de Bienes Corporales Muebles y la Prestación de Servicios (ITBMS), Panama's VAT. Standard rate on a price-exclusive base.
| Current value | 7 percent |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2010-07-01 |
| Official source | Código Fiscal, art. 1057-V, texto según Ley 8 de 15 de marzo de 2010 (G.O. 26489-A); rates as published by Dirección General de Ingresos (DGI-MEF), sección ITBMS |
| Last verified | 2026-07-20 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
General rate 7% since 1 July 2010 (raised from 5% by Ley 8 de 15 de marzo de 2010). Charged on a normal price-exclusive base (NOT 'por dentro'). Differential rates confirmed on the DGI page on 2026-07-20: 10% on alcoholic beverages (import/wholesale/retail) and on lodging/hotel services in all modalities; 15% on tobacco products. Registration/collection obligation starts when annual turnover exceeds B/.36,000 (small traders below are outside the tax). Main exemptions per DGI: medicines, food items, agricultural products, school supplies/uniforms/textbooks, water and electricity, medical and laboratory services. Access quirk: https://dgi.mef.gob.pa/itbms/Itbms.php 301-redirects to plain HTTP http://dgi.mef.gob.pa/itbms/Itbms - the http URL is the one that serves content; re-verify via that URL.
Earlier values
| From | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1977-01-01 | 5 | Ley 75 de 22 de diciembre de 1976 (crea el ITBM); Ley 6 de… |
Get it programmatically
curl https://usaref.dev/v1/pa/vat
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://usaref.dev/v1/pa/vat/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://usaref.dev/provenance/pa/vatOther Panama series: Monetary policy rate · VAT registration threshold · Minimum wage (lowest general statutory floor) · National public holidays · CPI inflation (year-over-year) · Corporate income tax (ISR personas jurídicas) · Withholding tax rates · Statutory legal interest (interés legal) · Personal income tax (ISR personas naturales) · Statutory social-insurance contributions
The same figure elsewhere: The Bahamas · United States · Canada · Costa Rica · Dominican Republic · all 10