Comment by omnimus

I dont get it. VAT is end customer tax applied exactly once. The rebates exist so importers, suppliers, resellers, shops dont pay VAT multiple times. This applies to every product local or imported.

With special case of digital goods this for a looong time meant that software sold from outside EU over internet was around 20% (VAT) cheaper because VAT was ignored by the companies. That’s quite a big advantage especially for US. And a reason why EU wanted VAT to be applied equally. Many companies still ignore it but it’s illegal now.