A guidebook is a book in the ordinary way, text and illustrations bound together to be read, and HMRC's A to Z names holiday and tourist guides directly. Almanacs, annuals and text books are on the same list. The maps inside are no obstacle either, since printed maps and charts are zero-rated in their own right under 3.10. What would take a guide out of the zero rate is the shape it is printed in rather than what it says: a single sheet for a visitor centre wall is a display sheet, and a laminated trail card to be carried and kept is reference material.
What decides it?
A guide you read is zero-rated. A laminated card you keep in a pocket for reference is not.
Is the design and artwork for guide books 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
A 48-page town guide with a fold-out map0%
Holiday and tourist guides are listed as zero-rated, and maps are zero-rated too.
A folded heritage trail leaflet handed out free0%
A single sheet, held and read, complete in itself.
A laminated trail card for repeated use20%
Laminated items are treated as designed to be kept, and it is reference material.
