Election leaflets are usually zero-rated (0% VAT) in the UK. HMRC weighs these characteristics together rather than ticking them off: A single sheet, A4 or smaller (or up to A2 printed both sides and folded down to A4); held and read, not hung up or displayed; printed on limp paper, not laminated; at least 50 copies; complete in itself, and either short-lived or supplied with something else; no more than a quarter of it to fill in or tear off, and never returned whole (HMRC VAT Notice 701/10, section 8).
PRIVATE & CONFIDENTIAL
Zero-rated.I'm afraid I cannot endorse any candidate.
Election leaflets
0% VAT
HMRC lists election addresses as zero-rated. Political pamphlets are zero-rated too.
HMRC VAT Notice 701/10, section 8
0% where it's:
A single sheet, A4 or smaller (or up to A2 printed both sides and folded down to A4)
Held and read, not hung up or displayed
Printed on limp paper, not laminated
At least 50 copies
Complete in itself, and either short-lived or supplied with something else
No more than a quarter of it to fill in or tear off, and never returned whole
Need these printed?
Tell Tenfold the quantity, size and deadline. We'll put together a quote for your job.
Election addresses are named in HMRC's A to Z, and pamphlets, which it describes as usually political, social or intellectual in content, are covered at 3.2. Political content is never the problem. What goes wrong with election print is the shape of it. A canvass card with a box for the voter to tick and return crosses into form territory, and anything primarily intended for completion or return is standard-rated whatever else it is. Poll cards are listed as standard-rated in their own right, and so are ballot papers.
What decides it?
Whether the voter reads it or fills it in. More than a quarter given over to completing or returning makes it a form.
When would election leaflets be charged at 20% VAT?
HMRC judges this as a matter of fact and impression, weighing these together rather than ticking them off: a single sheet, a4 or smaller (or up to a2 printed both sides and folded down to a4); held and read, not hung up or displayed; printed on limp paper, not laminated; at least 50 copies; complete in itself, and either short-lived or supplied with something else; no more than a quarter of it to fill in or tear off, and never returned whole. Missing one does not settle it by itself, and the further an item sits from them the harder it is to call it a leaflet. Two of them are rules rather than indicators: lamination takes it out, and so does being designed to be returned whole after completion.
Is the design and artwork for election leaflets 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, section 8, HMRC's guidance on zero rating books and printed matter. See the notices we work from.
Some real jobs
An A5 candidate leaflet delivered to every door in the ward0%
An election address, in leaflet form, read and thrown away.
A voter ID card with a tear-off reply slip taking half the sheet20%
Over a quarter of the area is there to be detached and returned, so it is a form.
