A Christmas order is mostly standard-rated. Cards, wrapping paper, stickers, calendars and table menus are all on the 20% side, and calendars are named twice over in the guidance. The zero-rated part is whatever is genuinely reading matter: a brochure, a newsletter posted to customers, or a leaflet handed out in quantity.
Printing for a christmas
Some 0%, some 20%
Here's the usual print for a christmas. Tap any item to see why it's 0% or 20%.
HMRC lists calendars as standard-rated, and separately gives being designed to be used as a calendar as its first example of a function that takes an item outside the meaning of a leaflet. Photography, quality and quantity make no difference to it.
Made to be sent, kept and displayed, so none of the leaflet characteristics fit.
Calendars are standard-rated. They're used, not just read.
HMRC lists menu cards as standard-rated. They're kept and used on the table, not read and thrown away.
Anything that gets you in, gets you money off or has a value of its own is standard-rated.
Packaging and wrapping aren't reading matter, so they're standard-rated.
HMRC lists stickers, labels and tags as standard-rated.
Sweets and chocolate count as confectionery, which is standard-rated. (Cakes and most biscuits are 0%, but biscuits coated or part-coated in chocolate are 20%.)
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.
Anything made to go on a wall or be displayed is standard-rated. The zero rate is for things you hold and read.