EU VAT rates for digital services by country
A digital service sold to a consumer in the EU is taxed at the standard VAT rate of the customer’s country, from 17 % to 27 % depending on the member state; only e-publications get a reduced rate in some states. The place-of-supply rule has applied since 2015 (Council Directive 2006/112/EC, art. 58), and since July 2021 all of it is declared on one One Stop Shop return (European Commission, OSS portal). The table below gives each country’s rate, dated (verified 2026-10-24) and sourced; the API serves the same table as JSON.
· Reviewed monthly: last read 2026-10-28, next review 2026-11-24
- Table verified on 2026-10-24; next review 2026-11-24. Each row carries the Commission’s publication and the national page it was read from.
- Digital services (software, SaaS, hosting, downloads, streaming, online courses without a live teacher): standard rate in all 27 states.
- E-books and e-newspapers: reduced in most states since Directive (EU) 2018/1713 allowed it; standard in Denmark and Hungary (e-books); zero-rated in Czechia (books) and Ireland and Denmark (newspapers).
- Place of supply for B2C: the consumer’s country (two non-contradictory pieces of evidence); for B2B with a valid VAT number: reverse charge, no VAT on the invoice.
Which rate applies to digital services in each country?
Rates recently changed are flagged in the API row (standardSince): Estonia 24 % from 1 July 2025, Finland 25.5 % from 1 September 2024, Romania 21 % from 1 August 2025, Slovakia 23 % from 1 January 2025.
| Code | Member state | Rate on digital services | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| AT | Austria | 20 % | 2026-10-24 |
| BE | Belgium | 21 % | 2026-10-24 |
| BG | Bulgaria | 20 % | 2026-10-28 |
| HR | Croatia | 25 % | 2026-10-24 |
| CY | Cyprus | 19 % | 2026-10-24 |
| CZ | Czechia | 21 % | 2026-10-24 |
| DK | Denmark | 25 % | 2026-10-24 |
| EE | Estonia | 24 % | 2026-10-24 |
| FI | Finland | 25.5 % | 2026-10-24 |
| FR | France | 20 % | 2026-10-24 |
| DE | Germany | 19 % | 2026-10-24 |
| EL | Greece | 24 % | 2026-10-24 |
| HU | Hungary | 27 % | 2026-10-24 |
| IE | Ireland | 23 % | 2026-10-28 |
| IT | Italy | 22 % | 2026-10-24 |
| LV | Latvia | 21 % | 2026-10-24 |
| LT | Lithuania | 21 % | 2026-10-28 |
| LU | Luxembourg | 17 % | 2026-10-24 |
| MT | Malta | 18 % | 2026-10-24 |
| NL | Netherlands | 21 % | 2026-10-24 |
| PL | Poland | 23 % | 2026-10-24 |
| PT | Portugal | 23 % | 2026-10-24 |
| RO | Romania | 21 % | 2026-10-24 |
| SK | Slovakia | 23 % | 2026-10-24 |
| SI | Slovenia | 22 % | 2026-10-24 |
| ES | Spain | 21 % | 2026-10-24 |
| SE | Sweden | 25 % | 2026-10-24 |
Which countries tax e-books at a reduced rate?
An e-book is a digital service for the place-of-supply rule but may carry the reduced rate of printed books. Audiobooks and e-newspapers follow their own national lines; a platform selling all three needs three rates per country.
| Code | Member state | E-books | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| AT | Austria | 10 % | |
| BE | Belgium | 6 % | |
| BG | Bulgaria | 9 % | |
| HR | Croatia | 5 % | |
| CY | Cyprus | 3 % | since 2023-07-21 |
| CZ | Czechia | 0 % (zero rate) | Books, including electronic, are zero-rated since the 2024 consolidation package. |
| DK | Denmark | 25 % (standard) | |
| EE | Estonia | 9 % | |
| FI | Finland | 14 % | since 2025-01-01 |
| FR | France | 5.5 % | |
| DE | Germany | 7 % | |
| EL | Greece | 6 % | |
| HU | Hungary | 27 % (standard) | Printed books 5 %; e-books at the standard rate. |
| IE | Ireland | 9 % | |
| IT | Italy | 4 % | |
| LV | Latvia | 5 % | |
| LT | Lithuania | 5 % | Books and non-periodical publications, printed or electronic, 9 % → 5 %. |
| LU | Luxembourg | 3 % | |
| MT | Malta | 5 % | |
| NL | Netherlands | 9 % | The planned increase to 21 % in 2026 for books and culture was withdrawn in 2025. |
| PL | Poland | 5 % | |
| PT | Portugal | 6 % | |
| RO | Romania | 11 % | since 2025-08-01 |
| SK | Slovakia | 5 % | since 2025-01-01 |
| SI | Slovenia | 5 % | |
| ES | Spain | 4 % | |
| SE | Sweden | 6 % |
How do you get the table as JSON?
The rates endpoint returns the 27 rows with hints per category; ?category= narrows the hints. Every row says when it was verified and where it was read; the top-level verifiedOn is the oldest row’s date, and nextReview the owner’s next scheduled check.
curl "https://veriport.io/api/v1/vat/rates?category=ebooks"What does the API not decide for you?
Whether your product is an electronically supplied service (a live webinar is not; a recorded course is), whether a bundle follows its main element, whether a customer is a business: those are the seller’s classifications, made with an adviser when the amounts justify it. The API gives you the rate once you know the category and the country, with the date and the source, so the decision is documented.
Questions
- Do I charge the rate of my country or the customer’s?
- For a consumer (B2C), the customer’s country, from the first euro if you are established outside the EU, and above the €10,000 EU-wide threshold if you are an EU micro-business (below it you may charge your own country’s rate). For a business with a valid VAT number (B2B), you charge no VAT and the customer self-assesses (reverse charge).
- How do you keep the table current?
- A monthly review of the national pages by the operator, dated per row; a change is noted in the changelog and the row’s
verifiedOnmoves. Between reviews a rate can change without our noticing: the row’s date tells you how old your information is. - Where are the UK and Switzerland?
- Outside the EU VAT area, outside this table. Northern Ireland follows the UK’s VAT rates (20 %) and is in VIES for goods only (prefix XI).
Standard, reduced, super-reduced, parking; hints per category.
Read the rates endpointSources
- VAT rates applied in the Member States of the European Union (situation at 1 January 2025) and the Taxes in Europe Database (TEDB) — European Commission, DG TAXUD, consulted 2026-10-24. Rates changed after the January 2025 edition (EE July 2025, RO August 2025) are taken from the national pages cited on the row and must be re-read monthly.
- Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax, Articles 96–105 and Annex III (reduced rates), as amended by Directive (EU) 2022/542 — EUR-Lex, consulted 2026-10-24
- VAT e-commerce rules: One Stop Shop (OSS) and Import One Stop Shop (IOSS) — European Commission, DG TAXUD, consulted 2026-10-24