Strange taxes for European customers

[Ojster]

Hello,

some of you might remember me ;) It's been quite some time since I last posted an eBook review, but I had some time and wanted to buy one title today and to my surprise I found out that taxes for european customers differ greatly from store to store. Below are my thoughts that I also sent to eReader and Fictionwise:

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Well, after quite a while I decided to buy another eBook. And to my surprise I found that diferent ebook stores add various tax percentage to the purchased amount for European customers.

This is very, very strange! If I buy an eBook on Fictionwise they will charge me $17.95 + 20% EU TAX which sums up to $21.54. Insane!

If I buy the same book at eReader.com it would cost me $14.54 with a discount code, but they also add EU TAX which is 17.5% in this case and all this sums up to $17.08

Our tax for books is actually 8% if you buy a book in local store. Who gets this tax when you pay to Fictionwise or eReader? Is this their pocket money? Do they transfer it to the European Union? I would really like to know that. And why such diffferences between stores?

And if I buy a book from amazon US - a hardcover version - it would cost me $15.99 + $4.49 what sums up to $20.48 delivered to my doorstep, as I do not have to pay any TAX as value is low enough to get through customs freely.

Is there any sense in this at all?
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Anyone did any investigating where this money goes? And whether other stores charge yet again different percentage?

And to my surprise I found out that Mobipocket charges no tax to European customers :)

Best regards,
Peter

[Jorgen]

I think you should pay the price plus your local "valueadded tax" as determined by the "delivery" address: in the UK VAT 17.5%, in Spain IVA 16% etc. I have never heard about an EU tax though I will not be surprised if they decided to "normalize" this as well and to a higher percentage than we pay locally!

Jorgen

[SteveHoward999]

Maybe they have a registeredoffice in one particular EU country and are charging VAT appropriate to that country?


It's not right though - they should be charging tax as approptiate to your country ... or not at al if they are not registered in your country, so far as I recall.

[hpf]

And to my surprise I found out that Mobipocket charges no tax to European customers :)


WRONG :!: they charge 19.6% (the legal VAT rate in force in France). You'd better look at their FAQ before posting such a thing...

A retailer based in the US which sells products to a european customer, must apply the VAT in force in the customer's country.
A retailer based in europe which sells products to a european customer (same country or not) must apply the VAT in force in the retailer's country.

All products sold to non-european customers (from european or non-european customers) do not have VAT.

For immaterial products like ebooks, there is no shipping address. Therefore, you can tell the retailer you live anywhere on Earth, there is no way to prove it.... so you can be exempted from VAT.

Of course, if you lie, you may have troubles in both your country and the retailer's country...

[dMores]

hpf ... calm down :)

anyway, thanks for the clarification.

because i wanted to post that there are different VAT percentages in various EU countries, and that it might have something to do with offices/shipping addresses etc.

but you cleared it up real nice for me. thanks.

at least with ebooks, the customs can't open your package up and start charging for things :bad-words: