VAT on top: what Ley 1733 changes and how to get ready
Ley 1733 separates VAT (IVA) from the price on the invoice. What the law says, what the SIN is doing and what you need to review in your prices, your till and your accounting.
For decades, the price you see on a Bolivian store shelf has had VAT (IVA) built in. That logic is about to change. Ley 1733, dated May 27, 2026, amends article 5 of Ley 843: the IVA base becomes the net price (the value of the good or service before taxes), and the tax is shown separately on the invoice.
It’s a short change in the text of the law and a big one in the day-to-day operation of any business that issues invoices.
IVA “included” versus IVA “on top”
Today IVA is included in the price. If you sell at Bs 100, the output tax is 13% of that Bs 100: Bs 13, and your net revenue is Bs 87. Measured against that net amount, the real burden is close to 15%.
With IVA on top, the price you set is the net price, and the tax is added to it:
| IVA included (today) | IVA on top (Ley 1733) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price you set | Bs 100 (with IVA) | Bs 100 (net) |
| IVA | Bs 13 (13% of the total) | Bs 13 (13% of the net) |
| Total the customer pays | Bs 100 | Bs 113 |
| What you keep | Bs 87 | Bs 100 |
The nominal rate is still 13%; what changes is what it’s calculated on and how it’s shown. For the customer, if you keep your list price, the total goes up. If you want to keep the total they pay, you have to lower your net price.
What the SIN is doing
- Effective date. The IVA change takes effect on the first day of the month following the publication of its implementing supreme decree. As of this writing we haven’t found it published, so keep a close eye on the Gaceta Oficial and the SIN website.
- Invoicing systems. RND 102600000034 (September 1, 2026) sets out adjustments to the invoicing system and establishes a pilot testing and authorization period between October 1 and November 16, 2026 for in-house systems and vendor systems.
- Technical annex. The SIN published a preliminary technical annex for Ley 1733 that was still under construction. It adds net price and IVA fields at the document level and changes how sectors are coded.
- In the meantime, the current invoicing regulation remains in force until the resolution that activates the changes takes effect.
This article is for information only and doesn’t replace advice from your accountant. The implementing regulations may still change some details.
What you need to review in your company
- Price lists. Decide, list by list, whether your prices are expressed with IVA or net. In retail, the “round” total the customer sees usually matters most; in wholesale and B2B, the net price does.
- Rounding. With IVA on top, cents appear. Decide whether you round the IVA or the total, and do it consistently across the till, the invoice and accounting.
- Documents that span the cutover date. Quotations, sales orders and purchase orders issued before the effective date and invoiced after it: you need to define which regime applies to each one.
- Till and customer display. The receipt and the display must show net, IVA and total without confusing the customer.
- Purchases and the Purchase Ledger. Input tax from your suppliers will also change shape: your system must record both regimes based on the date of each invoice.
- Accounting. Sales and purchase journal entries must split net and IVA using the new base.
- Your software vendor. Ask whether they’ll run the pilot tests within the SIN’s window. A system that isn’t authorized in time is a problem for invoicing.
Bringing it into a system
The healthiest approach is to treat this change as a tax rule with an effective date, not a manual switch: that way invoices under the old and new regimes coexist without getting mixed up. An ERP like MKA is already prepared for the transparent IVA pilot under Law 1733 as part of its SIAT e-invoicing.