Politech: FC: Europe will tax digital goods bought from U.S. starting July 1

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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From: Fred Heutte <phred () sunlightdata com>
To: <declan () well com>
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 20:38:58 -0700
X-Mailer: Vivian Mail [325.0109300]
Subject: EU set to introduce VAT on 'digital sales' by US and non-EU companies


http://www.euractiv.com/cgi-bin/cgint.exe/?204&OIDN=1505680&-tt=me

EU set to introduce VAT on 'digital sales' by US and non-EU
companies

In short:

Effective 1 July 2003, the EU will begin collecting value-added
tax (VAT) on "digital sales" of goods and other electronic
transactions from American and other non-EU companies.

Background:

The law, based on a Council Directive adopted in May 2002, levies
a 15 to 25 per cent tax on various transactions conducted over the
Internet such as software and music downloads, subscriptions to
services by an Internet Service Provider (ISP), and on all
products purchased through an online auction anywhere within the
EU Member States. Accordingly, US companies engaged in "digital
sales" to customers in the EU might have to follow suit and
collect taxes [. . .].




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