In addition to printed publications, from 1 May 2020 Estonia applies reduced 9% VAT rate also to publications issued on other physical mediums and to e-publications. The purpose of the VAT change was to allow an alignment of VAT rules for electronic and printed physical publications.
For VAT purposes, the e-book is deemed to be any book on a physical medium (other than a book printed on paper), as well as a book accessible by electronic means. Also, the reduced VAT rate will be applicable to electronic educational textbooks and electronically accessible daily and weekly press publications.
If the e-publication includes functions, which are not in the printed version of the publication or which can be deemed to be as additional elements (apart from use of the search engine or bookmark function), then such e-publication is still subject to standard 20% VAT.
According to the changes made in the VAT legislation, the reduced 9% VAT rate is not applicable to any press publications containing mainly advertising or private advertisements or mainly with erotic or pornographic content or video or music content. Also, the computer programs and computer games are still subject to 20% standard VAT rate.
We offer tax advice as a separate service as well as part of our accounting service.
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