VAT changes are a mere nuisance for huge retailers, but a real blow to self-published authors | Books | The Guardian

All fair and square? Not really. For microbusinesses faced with the job of calculating myriad tax rates, the new regime is an administrative nightmare. Author Cory Doctorow said he was forced to spend £700 on software and accountancy fees. Also, whereas businesses with an annual turnover of less than £81,000 used to be exempt from VAT, now if they sell even one ebook or audiobook to a customer outside the UK they must apply VAT to all UK sales too. For many, the only feasible option is to sell through Amazon or another large retailer.

The European parliament says it is investigating reduced rates for ebooks. In the meantime, a law ostensibly designed to reduce the dominance of big corporations will likely result in their becoming even stronger.