2018 Harmonised e-publications VAT rates
- Mar 4, 2020 | Richard Asquith
In October 2018, the EU Council agreed to allow member states to apply reduced or zero VAT rates to electronic publication income. It is part of the EU Action Plan for VAT and other reforms.
This includes e-books, online newspapers or periodicals and audio books. The measure is applied temporarily, pending the agreement and implementation of the Definitive VAT System
States progress on implementing the new freedoms
To date, the following member states have implemented or announced implementation of reduced rates on electronic publications:
Country Existing/old rate New rate Implementation
Austria 20% 10% 1 Jan 2020
Belgium 21% 6% 1 Apr 2019
Croatia 25% 5% 1 Jan 2019
Czech Republic 21% 10% 1 May 2020
Finland 24% 10% 1 Jul 2019
Germany 19% 7% 1 Jan 2020
Ireland 23% 9% 1 Jan 2019
Luxembourg 17% 3% 1 Jan 2019
Malta 18% 5% 1 Jan 2019
Netherlands 21% 9% 1 Jan 2020
Norway (non-EU) 25% 0% 1 Jul 2019
Poland 23% 5% 1 Nov 2019
Portugal 23% 6% 1 Jan 2019
Slovenia 22% 5% 1 Jan 2020
Sweden 25% 6% 1 July 2019
Previously, member states had to levy their standard, VAT rates on e-books and online news journals. Only specific goods listed within Annex III of the EU VAT Directive may benefit from reduced rates. E-books and similar digital products had not been created at the time of the drawing-up of Annex III, and so were excluded. The right to reduce VAT rates on such products comes after many failed ECJ appeals to change the interpretation of the VAT Directive.
