I am informed by Revenue that the data used to estimate the cost of zero-rating VAT on e-books and audiobooks were obtained from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The CSO’s statistical standards and quality procedures are available on their website.
The data were published in the CSO release titled “Household Expenditure on Digital Services 2020”, which estimated that Irish consumers spent in the region of €25m on the category “Publishing, Audiobooks and Podcasts”.
Although Revenue does not require traders to identify the VAT yield on specific goods and services in their VAT returns, the EU VAT One Stop Shop scheme covers a wider range of digital supplies including e-newspapers and other electronic publications. An analysis of these returns in relation to digital services shows a pattern consistent with the information obtained from the CSO publication (adjusted for inflation) and which was used to estimate the cost of zero-rating VAT on e-books and audiobooks in Budget 2024.
The Deputy may wish to note that details of the VAT rates applying to the various categories of electronic publications is available on the Revenue website at:
www.revenue.ie/en/vat/vat-on-services/electronic-services/electronic-publications/index.aspx.
