Quote:
Originally Posted by cstross
I should like to note also that Mobipocket might be breaking the law by charging VAT at 19% on ebooks sold to UK residents, as the VAT on books in the UK is rated at zero percent; although it's possible HMRC have imposed VAT on ebooks at a different rate. (If so, it wouldn't be the first time they've done something that dumb.)
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No. Unless you're a very large company (like Amazon), when you sell something to a customer in a different EU country, you charge them YOUR rate of VAT, not the customer's rate. Doesn't matter what the VAT rate on books is in the UK - you're buying from France, so it's the French rate that gets charged.
Apparently if you do more than a certain amount of business with an EU country, you then have to register for VAT in that country, after which you charge the local rate, but that doesn't apply to small companies like Mobi or Bookeen.
I'm also not at all sure that eBooks are zero-rated, as paper books are. They might be regarded as "computer software" rather than books.