Amazon to be stripped of tax advantage on e-book sale
European commission tells Luxembourg to end VAT loophole, a decision that could close the gap with British ebook price

Amazon is registered as a Luxembourg company and pays that country's VAT charge of 3% when it sells an eBook to a British reader, rather than the 20% it would have to charge if it were UK-based
Amazon is now expected to contest the contest the commission ruling so no impact on the cost of the ebooks bought from the UK website

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