- The Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruled that, due to EU Directive 2018/1713, the reduced VAT rate for books no longer requires a physical carrier, and the application of this rate for e-books is up to the national legislator.
- Fiscal unity X NV, which sells e-books and audiobooks, argued against the difference in VAT rates for physical and digital books, claiming the Netherlands took too long to implement the reduced VAT rate. The District Court of Noord-Holland ruled that the legislative process did not take an unreasonably long time, and the general VAT rate was correctly applied in Q4 2019.
- The Court of Appeal upheld this decision, stating that the EU directive allows member states to extend the reduced VAT rate to digital books, but the general VAT rate was correctly applied to e-books in Q4 2019 as the relevant Dutch legislation only came into effect on January 1, 2020.
Source Taxlive
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