According to recent reports, the government of Bahrain is hoping to pass legislation through parliament in November 2018 for the implementation of a value added tax (VAT) regime with a standard rate of 5% effective 1 January 2019. As per an agreement among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states, Bahrain is committed to introducing a VAT regime. GCC member states were to implement VAT regimes from January 2018, although to date, only Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have implemented their VAT regimes.