VAT on magazines from the UK

[Brendan Burgess]

I get a few magazines from the UK

They usually arrive without any VAT being charged but I got a notice from An Post today charging me 23% VAT and an Admin Fee.

It seems that they should have been charging VAT but at 9%.

Some of them I am not that pushed about so would cancel my subscription. But I think that they are just sent in a plain envelope without any customs form on them.

3. Printed matter liable at the second reduced rate

The second reduced rate applies to periodicals. Periodicals are magazines, scholarly journals, and newsletters. They are publications that are published at regular intervals. Monthly and weekly magazines and quarterly journals are all periodicals.

A periodical also covers sectoral publications (sports, entertainment, fashion, health, beauty, computers, etc.), that come out regularly or occasionally; so, publications such as the TV Guide, Sports Illustrated, certain journals, phone directories, etc., would all be included.

 

[mathepac]

I got caught up in a dispute with amazon.co.uk charging VAT on books shipped to Ireland some time ago but got it resolved in my favour with refunds paid.

If you want to continue subscribing to certain publications where you are getting charged VAT plus admin by An Post, could you change to electronic subscriptions?

Revenue has this VAT guide for printed matter

or maybe that's the guide you've quoted from above.

 

[tallpaul]

If you are changing to electronic magazines (something I did many years ago), check your local library's online services. They have hundreds of magazines that can be downloaded and read for free using the BorrowBox app.