亚马逊电子书增值税将被抬高咋看？

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在欧盟委员会下令关闭卢森堡（Luxembourg）的一项增值税漏洞之后，亚马逊（Amazon）电子书销售的有利税率将被取消。亚马逊注册为卢森堡公司，每向一名英国的读者销售一本电子书，它将缴纳该国3%的增值税，但如果它在英国注册的话，缴纳的增值税则高达20%。

The Guardian revealed this week that Amazon is forcing British publishers to cover the cost of a 20% VAT charge on ebook sales even though the true VAT cost to the online retailer is a fraction of that.

英国卫报（The Guardian）在本周透露，尽管增值税的成本只占亚马逊开支的一小部分，但是这家在线零售商却正强迫英国出版商负责支付电子书销售20%的增值税。

The European commission – which oversees European Union law as the EU's executive arm – on Wednesday gave Luxembourg 30 days to increase its VAT rate on digital services from 3% to 15%. This will close a tax loophole that has encouraged companies such as Amazon, Skype and Netflix to be based in Luxembourg to benefit from the 3% rate when selling throughout the EU. Luxembourg must agree to change its VAT rate before the end of November, or face being referred to the European court of justice and risk fines. France has also been issued with a similar warning over its 7% rate for digital services.

欧盟委员会作为欧盟（European Union）的执行机构，它对欧盟行使监督的权利。周三，欧盟委员会给卢森堡30天的时间将电子服务的增值税从3%上调到 15%。之前，当Amazon, Skype 和Netflix这些总部在卢森堡的公司在欧盟国家进行销售时，缴纳的增值税税率仅为3%，因此这些公司就可以从这项税收漏洞中获益。但卢森堡必须在今年11月月底上调其增值税税率，否则它将面对来自欧洲法院的法律制裁和风险罚款。法国同样被警告提高其7%的电子服务税率。

Amazon is expected to contest the commission ruling, so there will be no immediate impact on the cost of ebooks bought from its UK website.

预计亚马逊会对欧盟委员会的裁决提出质疑，因此从英国网站上购买电子书的成本不会立刻受到影响。

Luxembourg, with the lowest standard VAT rate in Europe, has been successful at attracting many global e-services providers. Under EU rules these companies are able to charge consumers across the EU the reduced Luxembourg VAT rate for these services. The home state of the consumer who makes the purchase receives no tax revenues.Charging ebooks at the 3% rate gives firms such as Amazon a huge competitive advantage over UK ebook retailers, which have to charge the local rate.

卢森堡的标准增值税率在欧洲最低，因此它成功的吸引了许多全球电子商务提供商。根据欧盟的规定，这些公司将按照卢森堡较低的增值税率对欧盟国家的消费者征收电子服务费。欧盟的消费者进行购买，但却不用纳税。像亚马逊这种公司，他们的电子书销售只缴纳3%的增值税，而英国电子书零售商则要按英国当地税率缴纳，相比较而言，他们具有巨大的竞争优势。

The commission issued infringement proceedings in July against Luxembourg and France on the grounds that their policy was incompatible with EU law. The next step, a reasoned opinion, was published on Wednesday. Luxembourg and France will rely on the defence that there is an anomaly in EU VAT law which allows paper books and newspapers, for instance, to be charged at a reduced VAT rate; but digital must be charged at the standard, higher rate of the country in which the company is based.

欧盟委员会在今年7月份对卢森堡和法国进行侵权起诉，理由是这两个国家的政策同欧盟的法律不相容。周三，这两个国家对此发布了一个合理正当的理由。法国和卢森堡辩护声称欧盟的增值税税法十分异常，比如说，纸质书和报纸是按降低之后的增值税税率进行缴纳，而电子读物却按照标准税率缴纳，而且标准税率要明显高于公司总部所在国的税率。

The commission, which is being pressured by national online booksellers which lose out to Amazon's better margins on digital sales will demand that member states cannot act alone and must seek unanimity amongst all 27 states. Richard Asquith, Global Head of VAT, TMF Group, the indirect tax consultancy, said: "Countries across the EU have been breaking ranks by charging cut-rate VAT on services sold across borders. Luxembourg's move at the start of 2012 to cut its ebook rate to only 3% to help attract and retain the media industry has been copied by France, and I expect Belgium to do the same. The UK has held out at the full 20% VAT rate, which has a detrimental impact on the UK industry. The EC's move will seek to end these anomalies and tax competition amongst member states, and comes under pressure from member states' ministers of finance."

亚马逊的电子图书销售比全球在线图书销售商获利更多，而目前欧盟委员会正受到来自于这些图书销售商的压力。对此，欧盟表示欧盟成员国不能单独行动，而是应该在27个国家中达成一致。达盟集团（TMF Group）是一家间接的税务咨询公司，该公司的增值税全球主管理查德•阿斯奎斯（Richard Asquith）表示，“欧盟各国一直通过对跨国销售服务征收低增值税来打破旧制。卢森堡在2012年初将其电子书的销售税率减少到3%，这帮助该国吸引并留住了媒体行业，我希望比利时（Belgium）也会这么做。英国的增值税税率为20%，这对于英国产业造成不利的影响。欧共体（EC）试图结束这些异常的现象并终止成员国间的税收竞争，但它同时也受到来自成员国财政部长们的压力。”。

The EU's move against Luxembourg will please the British publishing industry. British authors and publishers are fearful that Amazon's market dominance will send the industry into decline with consumers facing a smaller and less varied choice of books from fewer authors on sale in fewer retail outlets.

欧盟针对于卢森堡的举措将会使英国的出版行业十分高兴。英国的作者和出版商对于亚马逊市场的主导地位十分忌惮，欧盟的这一举措会使亚马逊的消费者有所减少，因为零售店在售的图书作者减少使得消费者可选择的图书数量和类别相对的减少。

来源：www.tianhenet.com.cn