John McGuinness
Ceist:382 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Finance if he will review the VAT rate on audio books with a view to eliminating it. [21698/01]
Written Answers. - Value Added Tax.
Books are currently zero rated for VAT purposes, while goods such as audio-tapes, audio-books, video cassettes, compact discs and DVD's are standard rated at 20%. Under the EU Sixth VAT Directive, member states may retain the zero rates they had in place on 1 January 1991, but they are prohibited from introducing new zero rates. This allows us to retain a zero rate of VAT for books. It does, however, prohibit the introduction of a zero rate for audio-books.