European Commission Looking At Dropping VAT Rates On E-Books

The European Commission is holding a public consultation on whether to allow all EU member states to drop the VAT rates on e-books to match VAT on printed books, this consultation will last until mid September 2016.

Since a European Court of Justice ruling in 2015, EU member states are required to apply their higher, standard VAT rates on e-books in accordance with the EU VAT directive, since e-books are not listed in the “”Annex II””as being eligible for reduced VAT, then higher rates must be applied. The European Commission plans to publish legislation proposals before the end of 2016.