On 6 November 2018, the Council of the EU adopted a directive allowing alignment of VAT rules for electronic and physical publications. From now on, member states will be able to apply reduced, super-reduced or zero VAT rates also to electronic publications.
The adoption of the e-publication directive follows the political agreement reached by the Council on 2 October. It opens up the possibility for member states to implement reduced VAT rates in their national law if they wish to do so.
The new rules will apply temporarily, pending the introduction of a new, ‘definitive’ VAT system. The Commission has issued proposals for the new system, which would allow member states more flexibility than at present in setting VAT rates.