Booklets are usually zero-rated (0% VAT) in the UK, but only if they meet HMRC's conditions: no more than a quarter of it is space to fill in or tear off and return; not designed to be filled in and sent back whole (HMRC VAT Notice 701/10, paragraph 3.1).
PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL
Bound, stapled and zero-rated.The paperwork is regrettably in order.
Booklets
0% VAT
Books and booklets are zero-rated. Pages of reading matter bound together, with or without a cover.
HMRC VAT Notice 701/10, paragraph 3.1
0% as long as it's:
No more than a quarter of it is space to fill in or tear off and return
Not designed to be filled in and sent back whole
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HMRC covers books and booklets at paragraph 3.1, separately from brochures and pamphlets at 3.2. A booklet normally has text or illustrations bound in a cover stiffer than its pages. Length isn't the test and neither is how well made it is: a modest stapled booklet qualifies, and being sturdy doesn't turn something into one. Work books and educational texts in question-and-answer format are still zero-rated, because the space left for answers is incidental to what the thing is. What falls outside are items that are essentially stationery, like diaries and address books, and books of plans or drawings for industrial, architectural or engineering use.
What decides it?
Whether it's pages of reading matter bound together to be read, or a stationery item you write in. A workbook with answer spaces is still a book. A diary is not.
When would booklets be charged at 20% VAT?
The zero rate applies as long as it's: no more than a quarter of it is space to fill in or tear off and return; not designed to be filled in and sent back whole. If any one of those isn't true, it isn't zero-rated, so it's 20%.
Is the design and artwork for booklets zero-rated too?
If your printer does the design, typesetting or finishing as part of the same zero-rated print job, that work can be zero-rated too. Design bought separately from a studio is a standard-rated service.
Where does this come from?
HMRC VAT Notice 701/10, paragraph 3.1, HMRC's guidance on zero rating books and printed matter. See the notices we work from.
Some real jobs
A 16-page stapled programme with a card cover0%
Pages of reading matter bound in a stiffer cover. That's a booklet.
A school workbook with spaces for answers0%
The answer spaces are incidental to the essential character of the book.
A page-a-day diary, however well bound20%
HMRC lists diaries as essentially stationery items, whatever they look like.
