Rakuten to save taxes by supplying eBooks to Japan via Canada

GoodEReader reports that Rakuten, the Japanese eCommerce giant that purchased Kobo, plans to start selling eBooks in Japan. To avoid having to charge the Japanese 5% consumption tax, which will increase to 15% by the end of the year, the eBooks will actually be sold from Kobo's headquarters in Canada. This strategy is the same as Amazon's tactic of basing an eBook distribution center in Luxembourg, which opened in December of last year. Instead of paying the U.K.'s 20% VAT on eBooks, Amazon customers pay only Luxembourg's 3% eBook VAT.