Today, the ABA released the following message, which we share with you without editorial intervention:
The aim of the definitive VAT system is for all Member States to operate under the same rules and have the same freedom to set VAT rates on certain goods and services.
Books are among the privileged products for which a zero value added tax (VAT) can now be freely applied in the Member States of the European Union (EU), after the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) adopted a new directive amending Directive 2006/112/EC on rates of value added tax.
The new common European document aims to achieve greater freedom in setting reduced and super-reduced VAT rates in the Member States. The change is in line with the Commission’s 2016 VAT Action Plan, which aimed to create a stable single European VAT area.
Under the new Directive, Member States may apply a maximum of two reduced rates, not lower than 5%, to a maximum of 24 categories of goods and services. In addition to the two reduced rates, Member States may now also apply a reduced rate lower than the minimum of 5% (i.e. the so-called super-reduced and zero rates) and an exemption with the right to refund the VAT paid for 7 categories of goods and services listed in Annex III to the Directive.
Books, newspapers and magazines in printed and digital form not only remain among the items that can have reduced rates, but are also among the few to which super-reduced and zero VAT rates can now be applied. The possibilities offered by the Directive apply to all Member States. What is different with regard to books from the current situation is that each Member State will also be able to apply zero rates to them.
“The news is life-saving for book publishers and we believe that the government will harmonize Bulgarian legislation in accordance with the directive as quickly as possible, since not only an entire industry but also the functional literacy of the population depends on the book publishing sector,” the Bulgarian Book Association commented, recalling that some European countries have already taken advantage of the zero rate for books as a measure to overcome the consequences of the pandemic. In their words, “the current document simply advertises an already de facto situation in part of the EU and tactfully invites governments that have not yet introduced a zero tax on printed works to take action.”
Source: BBA
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