MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - VAT paid on eBooks in the EU, what do you pay?

raulf · 04-13-2010, 08:13 AM

I read today in the spanish language newspaper El País, that the VAT one must pay for e-books in Spain will (finally) be the highest one (16%, 18% from June 1st on). For those not fluent in Spanish, i'll summarize the story:

1) VAT for e-books has been 16%.
2) Publishers and budding e-retailers complain: hey Mr. government, if VAT for p-books is 4%, wtf is it 16% for e-books? makes no sense to me.
3) Culture minister says in December that VAT for e-books will be 4%. hooray. fireworks. dancing in the streets.
4) Publishers get final response from tax (not culture) powers that be saying that books sold on on CD or USB sticks or other physical/digital format will pay 4% (you know, like Encarta, ups, no, wait, that is no longer published anymore) BUT that e-books sold over the Internet pay top 16% VAT. Always count on the taxman for bad news.

Why? because this type of transactions are considered e-commerce, and according to some EU directive (article 98.2 of something from 2006) on electronic services, you can't charge the lowest VAT for such things. you know, electronic, baaad.

(mumble, mumble) but if i buy that same ePub file in, say, a SD card, i pay 4%? crazy.

So i'd like to check, if that's so in the rest of the EU. i've never bought an e-book from an EU-based e-retailer, only from amazon.com, so i don't know what VAT they charge. Anyone who has bought e-books in Europe can confirm or deny that European ban on low taxes on e-books?

By the way. When i buy a paper book from amazon.co.uk i am charged 4% VAT. i guess that, buying a "real" book over the Internet is not e-commerce

only when you buy bits from a server into your computer/device (and they Holy Spirit is involved?). The latter is a (fully?) electronic service and should be taxed higher (because?) than something that does the same thing in a slightly different way (involves more human beings doing things with their hands like loading cardboard packages into a van?) are they better than the people that design, build, maintain and repair servers? design software? type copy for e-stores? is there any sensible reason for all this? is there any God? will you marry me? what's for dinner?

04-13-2010, 08:13 AM	#1
raulf Member Posts: 10 Karma: 10 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle 2	VAT paid on eBooks in the EU, what do you pay? I read today in the spanish language newspaper El País, that the VAT one must pay for e-books in Spain will (finally) be the highest one (16%, 18% from June 1st on). For those not fluent in Spanish, i'll summarize the story: 1) VAT for e-books has been 16%. 2) Publishers and budding e-retailers complain: hey Mr. government, if VAT for p-books is 4%, wtf is it 16% for e-books? makes no sense to me. 3) Culture minister says in December that VAT for e-books will be 4%. hooray. fireworks. dancing in the streets. 4) Publishers get final response from tax (not culture) powers that be saying that books sold on on CD or USB sticks or other physical/digital format will pay 4% (you know, like Encarta, ups, no, wait, that is no longer published anymore) BUT that e-books sold over the Internet pay top 16% VAT. Always count on the taxman for bad news. Why? because this type of transactions are considered e-commerce, and according to some EU directive (article 98.2 of something from 2006) on electronic services, you can't charge the lowest VAT for such things. you know, electronic, baaad. (mumble, mumble) but if i buy that same ePub file in, say, a SD card, i pay 4%? crazy. So i'd like to check, if that's so in the rest of the EU. i've never bought an e-book from an EU-based e-retailer, only from amazon.com, so i don't know what VAT they charge. Anyone who has bought e-books in Europe can confirm or deny that European ban on low taxes on e-books? By the way. When i buy a paper book from amazon.co.uk i am charged 4% VAT. i guess that, buying a "real" book over the Internet is not e-commerce only when you buy bits from a server into your computer/device (and they Holy Spirit is involved?). The latter is a (fully?) electronic service and should be taxed higher (because?) than something that does the same thing in a slightly different way (involves more human beings doing things with their hands like loading cardboard packages into a van?) are they better than the people that design, build, maintain and repair servers? design software? type copy for e-stores? is there any sensible reason for all this? is there any God? will you marry me? what's for dinner? Last edited by raulf; 04-13-2010 at 08:20 AM.