30 March 2017
In a recent European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling (Case C-390/15) it was stated that e-books are not entitled to the same reduced EU VAT rates as printed books.
In the ruling the ECJ held that having differing rates for the same book, based on the media that it is provided in, was not discriminatory.
Currently only printed books are allowed to benefit from the reduced rate of VAT in the EU, meaning that e-books have the standard rate of VAT applied.
This ruling follows the infringement proceedings that the ECJ took against Luxembourg and France last year for applying the reduced rate to e-books.