According to an article in The Guardian, Amazon is apparently forcing British publishers to cover 20% VAT on ebook sales, even though the company must only pay 3% to Luxembourg where it is based.
At NamNews we are not in the business of either praising or criticising retailers, merely attempting to clarify business relationships as a basis for fair-share relationships between suppliers and retailers.
How VAT works
Experienced NAMs will appreciate that in practice, VAT is an on-cost, and is paid by the shopper, i.e. in the case of an ebook selling at £10, VAT inclusive, the shopper is paying £1.67 in VAT, resulting in a net retail price of £8.33.
This VAT is the retailer’s output tax.
The retailer collects the VAT, and in turn pays the supplier/publisher the net price (allowing for retail margin etc) +VAT at 20% i.e. assuming a retailer’s margin of 30%, the retailer pays the supplier £5.83 + 20% VAT = £5.83 +£0.97 = £6.80.
The £0.97 is the retailer’s input tax.
The retailer subtracts their input tax from their output tax and pays the difference to the government. i.e. in the case above, the retailer pays the government £0.70.
International tax implications
As you know, it is not the business of the supplier to ensure that the retailer pays its required VAT. That is a matter between the retailer and the VAT people. In the case of Amazon, the article suggests that they are collecting at the 20% rate and paying at 3%. This will inevitably become an issue for Amazon as the ebook sector grows and UK VAT authorities possibly attempt readjustment to UK rates and clawback.
The fact that suppliers are fulfilling their obligations by paying at the full UK VAT rate means that they will have no issue with the VAT authorities.
This means that publishers can focus on optimising the ebook pricing model that, thanks to Amazon scale and easy-buying facility, has allowed ebooks to be charged at approximately the same price as hard-copies, rather than what would be justified by the almost zero incremental production costs of the electronic versions.
How publishers can negotiate with Amazon
No-one is in any doubt that Amazon are tough negotiators, with increasing power to use their consumer-gateway role as a vital route to shoppers. Any extreme abuse of this privilege will eventually mean more trouble with the competition authorities than is worthwhile, despite the additional revenue...
Increasing supplier leverage
Suppliers/publishers can 'even-the-balance' by opening up direct ebook access to the ultimate reader, remembering that fulfillment, unlike with CDs and DVDs, can all be handled in-house, providing they make purchasing as simple as Amazon’s 1-click process, and a no-quibbles returns policy....
This means suppliers can use ebooks-direct to add value and personalise the offering (author insights etc) in ways that are probably not yet on Amazon's agenda....
The resulting say 30/70 split in direct/Amazon sales would surely provide some leverage in negotiation, rather than divert energies to concerns about Amazon’s tax issues..
Meanwhile, food NAMs might usefully contemplate the online implications of food-VAT being introduced….
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