VBOOKS8500 | Introduction

The government announced at Budget, on 11 March 2020, that it intended to legislate to apply a zero rate of VAT to the supply of certain e-publications with effect from 1 December 2020. As a result, supplies of e-books, e-newspapers, e-magazines and academic e-journals would be entitled to the same VAT treatment as supplies of their physical counterparts. The objective was to support literacy and reading in all of its forms.

Following the outbreak of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the government brought forward the implementation date to 1 May 2020. This was to reduce the cost of access to these publications during these challenging times when many people were confined to their homes and schools were closed.