{"uid":"cap_X5e4e5TnvxAn3lw2bo7jS","slug":"usaref-vat-rate-lookup-ff469115","name":"usaref VAT Rate Lookup","description":"Authoritative North American government reference values as clean JSON: central-bank policy rates, VAT rates, national minimum wages and public holidays for Canada (ca), United States (us). Every value carries a citation to its official primary source (government gazette or central-bank statement), an effective date, a last-confirmed date and a staleness flag.","url":"https://usaref.dev/v1/answers/vat","method":"GET","headers":{},"bodySchema":{"type":"object","properties":{"properties":{"type":"string"}}},"responseSchema":{"type":"json","example":{"unit":"percent","notes":"The 15 July 2026 release states verbatim: 'The Bank of Canada today held its target for the overnight rate at 2.25%, with the Bank Rate at 2.5% and the deposit rate at 2.20%.' effective_from is 2025-10-29, the date of the last CHANGE (a 25 bp cut from 2.50% to 2.25%), not the date of the most recent reaffirmation — the Bank has since held at 2.25% at all SIX subsequent fixed announcement dates: 10 December 2025, 28 January 2026, 18 March 2026, 29 April 2026, 10 June 2026 and 15 July 2026. The full 2026 FAD schedule published by the Bank in August 2025 is 28 January, 18 March, 29 April, 10 June, 15 July, 2 September, 28 October and 9 December, with the Monetary Policy Report released alongside the January, April, July and October decisions. Canada's operating band is 25 bp wide: the Bank Rate (upper limit, standing liquidity facility) is the target +25 bp = 2.50%, and the deposit rate (lower limit, remuneration on settlement balances) is 2.20% — 5 bp below target, a spread the Bank narrowed from the earlier target-minus-25bp convention. The target for the overnight rate is the correct headline policy rate; do not substitute the Bank Rate. Next scheduled fixed announcement date: 2 September 2026. bankofcanada.ca serves clean HTML and is reliably fetchable.","stale":false,"value":2.25,"series":"policy-rate","source":{"url":"https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2026/07/fad-press-release-2026-07-15/","name":"Bank of Canada, Fixed Announcement Date press release 15 July 2026, 'Bank of Canada maintains the policy rate at 2¼%' (decision under the Bank of Canada Act, RSC 1985, c. B-2); rate level set by the FAD press release of 29 October 2025"},"country":"CA","disclaimer":"Independent service, not affiliated with any government. Verify against the cited official source before legal or financial use.","effective_from":"2025-10-29","last_confirmed":"2026-07-20"}},"example":null,"exampleRequest":null,"tags":["x402"],"displayCostAmount":"0.001","displayCostAsset":"USDC","priceDynamic":false,"priceHint":null,"priceStatus":"priced","priceSource":"probe","requiresHandshake":false,"reviewCount":0,"rating":{"score":"0.00","successRate":"0.00","reviews":0,"stars":null,"state":"unrated"},"availabilityStatus":"unknown","priceObserved":null,"sessionDeposit":null,"pricing":{"kind":"static","summary":"$0.005/call","primary":{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"0.005","per":"call","confidence":"exact"},"accepted":[{"kind":"static","protocol":"x402","network":"base","amountUsd":"0.005","per":"call","confidence":"exact"}]},"paymentMethods":[{"uid":"pm_xA1MK2IWmnTGjZ5XN9KO_","protocol":"x402","methodType":"crypto","chain":"base","mode":"charge","costAmount":"0.005","costPer":"request","priority":0,"asset":"0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913","unit":"request","depositMicros":null,"planRef":null}],"brandName":null,"brandSlug":null,"brandBaseUrl":null,"brandDocsUrl":null,"whatItDoes":"Returns the current VAT/sales-tax rate for Canada or the United States as a clean JSON value with an official government citation, effective date, and staleness flag.","exampleAgentPrompt":"What is the current VAT rate in Canada, and can you give me the official government source it comes from along with the date it took effect?","exampleUseCases":[{"title":"Invoice compliance check for Canada","prompt":"I'm generating invoices for Canadian customers — what is the current federal VAT/GST rate in Canada with the official source so I can make sure my tax line is correct?"},{"title":"Cross-border pricing tool setup","prompt":"I'm building a pricing tool for North America and need the authoritative VAT rate for Canada right now, including when it was last confirmed and whether the data is stale."},{"title":"Finance report tax rate verification","prompt":"Can you pull the current VAT rate for Canada with a citation to the official government source? I need to include it in a compliance report and verify it hasn't changed recently."}],"resultDescription":"A JSON object containing the VAT rate as a numeric value with unit (percent), the country, an effective_from date, a last_confirmed date, a stale boolean flag, a source object with the official government URL and name, and a disclaimer noting the service is independent of government.","failureModes":["Unsupported country code returns an error — only 'ca' and 'us' are valid","Stale flag set to true if the underlying rate has not been confirmed recently","Payment failure (402) if USDC payment of $0.001 is not attached","Rate may not reflect sub-national (provincial/state) tax rates, only federal-level"],"whenToPreferThis":"Choose this endpoint when you need a machine-readable, citation-backed federal VAT rate for Canada or the US with a clear effective date and staleness signal. Prefer it over web scraping or LLM knowledge for compliance, invoicing, or financial applications where an authoritative primary-source citation is required. It is not suitable for sub-national or state/provincial tax lookups.","instructions":null,"reviewSummary":null,"reviewSummaryHighlights":null,"reviewSummaryConcerns":null,"reviewSummaryGeneratedAt":null,"activationCount":0,"lastUsedAt":null,"lastSuccessfullyRanAt":null,"lastHealthCheckAt":"2026-09-14T06:35:01.568Z","isFirstParty":false}