In this article, Value Added Tax (VAT) is examined as a legal transplant. The legal transplants theory relies on the assumption that legal transplants are the primary driver behind legal change. In order to establish whether this is the case for VAT, the distribution of VAT across the world is examined. This spread, however, should be evaluated against the different legal VAT families that may be identified around the world in order to determine if the identity of the transplanted system remains. That said, VAT families vary over time, and there is no specified definition of different VAT families. The establishment of the relevance of studying VAT as a legal transplant may feasibly lead to a discussion on whether a legal transplant approach is appropriate for comparative research in VAT since such an approach entails a risk for too much emphasis on similarities. The fact that statutes appear to be similar does not necessarily mean that the law is the same due to various factors such as legal culture. However, with an awareness of the inadequacies of the legal transplants approach as a method for comparative studies, the approach may provide valuable insight into explaining the similarities and differences in VAT.
