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#1 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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Karma: 307935764
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
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ECJ Rules that Ebooks must have standard VAT rate
Way back in 2012, Luxembourg and France dropped the VAT rate they charged on ebooks from the standard rate to the reduced rate (17% -> 3% in Luxembourg and 20% -> 5% in France).
The European Comission ruled against them in 2013, but they appealed to the European Court of Justice. The European Court of Justice has now ruled that they are not allowed to charge the reduced, as ebooks must be classified as electronically supplied services, not as books, and so are ineligible for the reduced rate. This is unfortunate, but expected - the relevant laws are pretty clear. It is to be hoped that the relevant EU laws can be changed, but even if they are, it will take some time. Thanks to Ink, Bits & Pixels for the info that the judgement had been rendered. |
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#2 |
Ex-Helpdesk Junkie
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Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity
Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)
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![]() Hopefully the insanity will be rectified in the near future. |
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#3 |
monkey on the fringe
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Seattle Metro
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This ruling is lame. A book is a book is a book. Different rules based on format are nothing short of arbitrary. Why should it matter what form the book is produced and sold in?
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#4 |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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Karma: 307935764
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
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It shouldn't Unfortunately, ebooks weren't really considered (weren't really around) when the relevant laws were written.
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#5 |
Well trained by Cats
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: The Central Coast of California
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REVENUE source
Governments never want to give it up once they have their hands into it. Just because the windfall was from unanticipated technology... OTOH Watch them move if the thought that something SHOULD be taxed and is not ![]() |
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#6 |
Wizard
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Sudbury, ON, Canada
Device: PRS-505, PB 902, PRS-T1, PB 623, PB 840, PB 633
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The contents of the paper book and ebook may be the same, but the infrastructure around them is completely different. You don't buy an ebook, you buy a license to access the ebook. It is only for you, and can't be passed on to someone else. The license can be revoked at any time. You need to access servers to validate the license when DRM is applied to the ebook. Ebooks are treated just like software by the vendors, so it's no surprise that they get taxed the same way.
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#7 |
Wizard
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Sudbury, ON, Canada
Device: PRS-505, PB 902, PRS-T1, PB 623, PB 840, PB 633
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So, how do you explain the lower taxes on paper books?
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#8 |
Enthusiast
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Device: Kindle Scribe
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If ebooks are no different from software.
We can legally sell on our licence for Software and retailers can cell 2nd hand software licences. |
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#9 |
Zealot
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Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Miami, Florida
Device: iBooks
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If I sell you a PDF file in the UK, the VAT tax is 20%. If I first print that same PDF file and sell it to you on paper, there is no VAT tax...
Makes perfect sense....not |
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#10 |
“Here’s Johnny
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[QUOTE=thewitt;3060977]If I sell you a PDF file in the UK, the VAT tax is 20%. If I first print that same PDF file and sell it to you on paper, there is no VAT tax...
Makes perfect sense....not[/QUOTE] And I'm sure they wonder why people pirate stuff. |
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#11 |
Grand Sorcerer
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I can see it now. I print out the entire source code to the ePub and sell that to you for you to type it out and recreate the eBook.
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#12 |
Wizard
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Canada
Device: Kobo H2O / Aura HD / Glo / iPad3
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Hmmm, I wonder if it would be cheaper to sell ebooks through card punch readers.
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#13 |
Wizard
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Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Quincy, MA
Device: Samsung 54A, Kobo Libra H2O, Samsung S6 Lite
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[QUOTE=Jack Torrance;3060980]Bingo! It's crap like this that encourages pirating, and they have no one to blame but themselves.
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#14 | ||||
No Comment
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Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Australia
Device: Kobo: Not just an eReader, it's an adventure!
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Quote:
Quote:
Other than the 'first sale' doctrine, these restrictions could be placed on physical books. Have you read the 'license' on video tapes and DVD/BluRays? They claim you can't do all kinds of things with them. Which everyone ignores. Quote:
Quote:
And now, that poorer quality widget costs more. Last edited by murg; 03-08-2015 at 08:08 PM. |
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#15 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: near Philadelphia USA
Device: Kindle Kids Edition, Fire HD 10 (11th generation)
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No reason to wonder.
People pirate stuff because they can then get it for free. Other factors include how acceptable piracy is within one's peer group. As for the justice of charging a higher tax for the eBook: I think that in the past, it was consistent with social justice because the people who could afford eReaders were more affluent than paper book purchasers. But as eReader and tablet prices come down, this won't be true any more. So what was a good policy should be reconsidered. |
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Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
EU Announces Changes to VAT on eBooks | owly | News | 38 | 10-06-2014 05:44 AM |
Amazon's EU VAT rate on ebooks drops to 3% from 15% | pdurrant | News | 17 | 07-07-2012 08:32 PM |
VAT paid on eBooks in the EU, what do you pay? | raulf | General Discussions | 20 | 03-06-2011 08:33 AM |
VAT on ebooks - changes and petitions | pdurrant | News | 17 | 01-15-2010 10:43 AM |
Spain reduced the VAT on ebooks | Jellby | News | 33 | 12-28-2009 07:19 AM |