Folders can be 0% or 20% VAT in the UK depending on the job (HMRC VAT Notice 701/10, paragraph 5.2). It's mainly there to hold other things: 20% VAT. It's printed with plenty of information, like a brochure with a flap: 0% VAT.
Folders
It depends
Most folders are standard-rated. A folder can be zero-rated if it's really a brochure, carrying a good amount of information in its own right.
HMRC VAT Notice 701/10, paragraph 5.2
Which one is yours?
It's mainly there to hold other things20%It's printed with plenty of information, like a brochure with a flap0%Need these printed?
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HMRC deals with folders at paragraph 5.2: most folders and wallets are standard-rated, but if they convey information themselves they may qualify as brochures. So the question isn't how good the folder is, it's whether it does a job of its own beyond holding things. A presentation folder with pockets, printed with a logo, is a container. The same folder carrying substantial text about what's inside can be a brochure. Ring binders have their own rule: one supplied on its own is zero-rated only if it's designed to hold a loose-leaf book and the exact title of that book is printed on the outside. A company name alone isn't enough.
Whether it conveys information itself or is there to hold other things. Pockets and a logo make a container. Substantial text can make a brochure.
It's mainly there to hold other things: 20% VAT. It's printed with plenty of information, like a brochure with a flap: 0% VAT.
HMRC VAT Notice 701/10, paragraph 5.2, HMRC's guidance on zero rating books and printed matter. See the notices we work from.
Its job is holding the inserts, so it's a folder, not a brochure.
If it conveys information itself, HMRC allows it to qualify as a brochure.
A binder is zero-rated on its own only if the exact title of the loose-leaf book it holds is on the outside.