Charities get one relief that nobody else does, and it is narrower than it sounds. Appeal letters asking for donations, collecting envelopes, stewardship envelopes and the envelopes that carry an appeal out and a donation back can be zero-rated when supplied to a charity, even when personalised. Everything else follows the ordinary rules, so the charity's letterhead, compliment slips and Christmas cards are standard-rated like anyone else's.
Printing for a charity or fundraising
Some 0%, some 20%
Here's the usual print for a charity or fundraising. Tap any item to see why it's 0% or 20%.
No. The concession covers printed stationery used to ask for money, and HMRC says in terms that it does not cover general stationery supplied to charities. A charity's leaflet is zero-rated because it is a leaflet, not because of who ordered it.
Leaflets are zero-rated. A sheet you pick up, read and bin (or one that comes with a product) is exactly what the zero rate is for.
Fully printed company accounts and reports are zero-rated.
Newsletters are zero-rated, either as periodicals or as leaflets.
An HMRC concession zero-rates the printed stationery a charity uses to ask for money: appeal letters (even personalised ones) and the envelopes that go out and come back with them.
A letter personalised with the recipient's name or address is standard-rated. A generic printed letter can be a leaflet.
Forms are standard-rated. If more than a quarter of it is space to fill in or a bit to tear off and send back, it's a form, not a leaflet.
It's stationery. Things you write on are standard-rated, however nicely printed.
Anything that gets you in, gets you money off or has a value of its own is standard-rated.
Anything made to go on a wall or be displayed is standard-rated. The zero rate is for things you hold and read.