EU taxation

[Logan]

I have been a customer of Amazon in the UK since they began. I buy their books in English beause it's my first language and I enjoy the connection to English even though I have lived in France for many years and speak French. I recently noticed on my factures that I was being charged VAT in the UK at French rates ie 19.6%. The VAT rate in UK is 17.5%. Books are zero rated. I have asked Amazon for an explanation. This is their reply.:-

"To answer your question, for all orders and deliveries that we send

to France, we are obliged to charge VAT at the local rate of 5.5% for

books, with a rate of 19.6% for all other products.

In accordance with the laws governing members of the European Union, Amazon.co.uk is obliged to register and charge for VAT on all orders delivered to destinations in member countries of the EU.

When VAT applies to an order, the relevant charges will be clearly

reflected on your e-mail confirmations and invoices.

Please remember that VAT charges only apply to orders being sent to

member countries of the EU."

So it now seems you pay VAT according to where you live not where you buy.

Am I the only one who thinks this is is yet another example of the logic of the EU being utterly bizzare? Why should it matter where you live? Surely it's the point of sale which is relevant for the VAT rate.

Does this now mean that if I buy books or anything else in England from a shop I must declare and pay TVA at 5.5% on entering France? That's the same logic to me. I am baffled.

[BJSLIV]

This is not a new provision it has always been there, its just that the increased use of remote shopping ,thanks to the internnet has made it more obvious.

It makes sense from stopping tax evasion by the companies concerned. If this provision did not exist a company such as amazon would claim that all its books sold by the French branch were in fact sold by the Uk company etc etc. I'm afraid that such quirks will always exist (until) tax harmonisation takes effect. There is nothing to stop people personally buying books in another country and taking them over the border themselves, just like the booze/ fag cruises from Dover to Calais which were of course severely curtailed at least as far as Fags are concerned with the recent near harmonisation of taxes, hence the increased traffic to Belgium......

[Teamedup]

I have been told recently by the french TVA office that it is where the article is being delivered to, which is the deciding factor. And by the VAT office that a business has to have over a certain amount of business in another country to do this.

Which ever for sales by correspondance I suppose that this is the way that things are going to be.

[Mazan]

The VAT office is right. Smaller companies and large ones who don't trade much abroad can charge local VAT rates. Ones who make many exports to other EU countries must charge the rate of the other country. Amazon fall into this category.

This anomaly was introduced by the EU following pressure from protectionist countries like France. The French TVA people will try and pretend that all postal imports to France are subject to this rule, but it isn't true at all. If it was true then all personal posted imports would also be subject to French TVA rates, which of course they aren't.

[Logan]

Thank you Marzan and others for your explanations. These help to understand why some companies do and others don't charge French rates of VAT. I shall look for another online book supplier in UK who are smaller than Amazon. In the course of my contacts with Amazon over this issue they led me to believe I had no other choice but to pay the VAT. This coupled with the extra postal charges makes buying online quite expensive. Has anyone any suggestions for other suppliers?

[Russethouse]

Might be worth looking at www.abe.com. The site is made up of individual sellers but it would probably be best to have a title, topic or author in mind.

Happy reading !