E-books cannot have a lower rate of VAT, says European court
E-BOOKS cannot have a lower rate of VAT applied to them, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled yesterday.
The Luxembourg- based court was adjudicating on a case brought by France and Luxembourg, to try and have e-books subject to the same lower rate of VAT that hardcopy books are.
However, ECJ judges said: “The court finds that the VAT directive excludes any possibility of a reduced VAT rate being applied to ‘electronically supplied services’.”
A spokesmans for Amazon, the largest seller of e-books, said: “Like many of our customers, we believe that books in any format should be subject to the same reduced VAT rate.”