Norway proposal to scrap VAT on digital news

The Norwegian tax authorities have issued a proposal to free the news industry from VAT on digital news and journals.

Currently, print news is mostly ‘nil’ rated. This means newspapers attract no VAT, but newspaper companies can still recover the VAT they incur on the production of the news. Online versions of the same publications, offered for a fee or subscription, are subject to Norwegian VAT at the standard rate of 25%.

The measure has yet to be approved.

The European Commission recently proposed to exempt digital news services from EU VAT.