New regulations for 2018

Amendment of the VAT Directive relating to the reduced rates applied to the books, newspapers and digital magazines

por la que se modifica la Directiva 2006/112/CE en lo relativo a los tipos del impuesto sobre el valor añadido aplicados a los libros, los periódicos y las revistas.(DOUE, 14-noviembre-2018)

On November 14, Council Directive (EU) 2018/1713, of November 6, 2018, amending Council Directive 2006/112/EC (VAT Directive) is published in the OJEU to introduce the possibility for Member States to match the VAT rates applied to publications regardless of whether they are supplied by means of physical support or electronically, following the Judgment of the Court of Justice of the EU of 7 March 2017 that considered both equivalent types of supply to comparable situations.　

Article 98.2, second paragraph of the VAT Directive established that the reduced rates were not applicable to electronic services. The amendment to this article allows Member States to apply a reduced rate to the supply of digital books, newspapers or magazines, with the exception of those consisting wholly or predominantly of music or video content . In addition, a new paragraph is added to Article 99 so that Member States which, as of 1 January 2017, applied reduced rates of less than 5% to the supply of books, newspapers or magazines in physical format (minimum established in paragraph 1), may apply the same rate if this supply is made electronically.