Last reviewed by Robert Prime, 12 October 2026. Sources read that day: HMRC’s VAT Notice 701/10, zero rating books and printed matter, HMRC’s zero rate of VAT for electronic publications, gov.uk Register for VAT, and Amazon’s How EU and the UK Taxes Affect Print Books List Price and How EU Taxes Affect eBooks List Price. General information, not tax advice.
Quick Answer: Printed books and ebooks are both zero-rated in the UK (0% VAT; ebooks since 1 May 2020). Audiobooks are standard-rated at 20%, and so are stationery-type books such as diaries, address books and account books, which can include blank journals and planners. On Amazon you set a price without VAT and KDP adds any VAT due; your royalty is worked out on the price without VAT. You only have to register for VAT once your taxable turnover goes over £90,000 in a rolling 12 months.
Table of Contents
- Is there VAT on books in the UK?
- Ebooks: zero-rated since 1 May 2020
- What is not zero-rated
- How Amazon KDP handles VAT
- Do I need to register for VAT as an author?
- Selling books direct
- Frequently asked questions
Is there VAT on books in the UK?
There is, but the rate is 0%. Books are in the zero-rate schedule of the Value Added Tax Act 1994: VAT Notice 701/10 reproduces Schedule 8, Group 3, which lists “Books, booklets, brochures, pamphlets and leaflets”, “Children’s picture books and painting books”, “Music (printed, duplicated or manuscript)” and “Maps, charts and topographical plans”, among others.
HMRC describes a book as something that normally consists “of text or illustrations, bound in a cover stiffer than their pages”. Zero-rated supplies listed in the notice include “literary works”, “reference books” and “directories and catalogues”. A paperback novel, cookbook, picture book or textbook is zero-rated.
Zero-rated is not the same as exempt. A zero-rated sale is still a taxable sale, just at 0%, and that matters for registration (below).
Ebooks: zero-rated since 1 May 2020
Ebooks used to carry 20% VAT. HMRC’s e-publications guidance says the changes “were originally intended to take effect from 1 December 2020” but, because of the pandemic, “the date has been brought forward to 1 May 2020.”
The zero rate covers the electronic versions of books, newspapers and journals, “but excluding publications which: (a) are wholly or predominantly devoted to advertising, or (b) consist wholly or predominantly of audio or video content” (Notice 701/10, Group 3 item 7). HMRC says “predominantly” means “more than half”.
An ebook that has never been printed still qualifies, as long as it is a publication that would be zero-rated in print (Notice 701/10, para 9.4).
What is not zero-rated
These are the cases that trip up self-publishers:
| Product | VAT in the UK | HMRC’s words |
|---|---|---|
| Audiobooks (CD or download) | Standard rate, 20% | “Supplies of audiobooks remain taxable at the standard rate whether supplied in a physical or digital format.” (para 9.5) |
| Diaries, address books | Standard rate | “products that are essentially stationery items, for example, diaries and address books” (para 3.1) |
| Account books, exercise books | Standard rate | “Stationery items such as account books and exercise books are standard-rated.” (para 4.2) |
| E-diaries and other ebooks made for filling in | Standard rate | unless it is the electronic version of a zero-rated printed book or a children’s picture or painting book (para 9.6) |
| Adult colouring books | Standard rate | colouring books are zero-rated only if they do not include content “only suitable for adults” and “aren’t advertised or held out for sale as an adult product” |
| Children’s colouring and activity books | Zero-rated | “Children’s picture and painting books (which includes children’s colouring books) are zero-rated.” |
| Workbooks with spaces for answers | Zero-rated | the answer spaces are “incidental to the essential character of the book” (para 3.1) |
The middle of that table is the one to watch if you publish low-content books. A blank lined journal, a gratitude planner or a log book is closer to stationery than to a book you read. Whether a particular title is a book or stationery depends on what it is mostly for, so if most of your catalogue is planners and journals, take advice.
How Amazon KDP handles VAT
You do not collect VAT on Amazon sales yourself. Amazon’s print list price page says: “When a customer places an order for your book, we will automatically add the applicable VAT rate to your selected list price”, and “Your royalties are not impacted by VAT rate variations. We will use the VAT exclusive list price that you provide to calculate royalties on your book’s sales.”
The same page gives the rates Amazon applies in each marketplace. For Amazon.co.uk: 0% for books at the reduced rate and 20% for books at the standard rate. It says books that may be standard-rated include “Notebooks, planners, diaries, coloring books, activity books, etc.” and “Books with digital or print bonus content”. That list covers every country Amazon sells in; in the UK, HMRC zero-rates children’s colouring and activity books (table above), so do not assume the estimate in your KDP dashboard is HMRC’s final word.
For Kindle ebooks, Amazon’s ebook VAT table shows the United Kingdom at 0%. In the EU it is not zero: the same table shows Germany at 7%, France at 5.5% and the Netherlands at 9%, which is why your euro list prices look different with and without VAT.
So, on Amazon, the practical points are:
- Set your list prices without VAT. That is the figure your royalty is calculated on.
- Expect a planner or journal to show 20% VAT on Amazon.co.uk, and price it with that in mind.
- Your KDP royalty is income, and income tax is a separate question: see do authors pay tax on book royalties?
Do I need to register for VAT as an author?
Probably not yet. gov.uk: you must register if “your total taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over £90,000 (the VAT threshold)” or “you expect your taxable turnover to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days”. You “have to register within 30 days of the end of the month when you went over the threshold.”
Two things authors miss:
- Zero-rated sales count. gov.uk’s list of what is in taxable turnover includes “zero-rated goods”. £90,000 of zero-rated book sales is £90,000 of taxable turnover.
- It is a rolling 12 months, not the tax year. Check it every month once you are close.
Whether your Amazon royalties count towards the threshold depends on who pays you and where they are based, under the VAT rules on where a service is supplied. If your royalties alone are approaching £90,000 a year, that is the point to pay an accountant for an hour, not before.
You can also register voluntarily below the threshold. Once registered, gov.uk says you “must charge VAT on the goods and services you sell unless they are exempt”. For a business that mostly sells zero-rated books, that charge is 0% on the books themselves.
If you are thinking about a limited company at the same time, read limited company vs sole trader for UK authors.
Selling books direct
Selling signed paperbacks at events or from your own website:
- Printed books to UK buyers: zero-rated. If you are not VAT-registered you charge no VAT at all.
- Ebooks to UK buyers: zero-rated, as above.
- Audiobooks, journals and planners: standard-rated once you are VAT-registered.
- Postage: how delivery is treated depends on what you are sending and how you charge for it; HMRC’s Notice 700/24 covers postage and delivery.
- Sales to buyers abroad are governed by the rules of the buyer’s country as well as the UK’s. Check before you open your shop to overseas customers.
Keep a record of every direct sale either way. You need it for your Self Assessment, and it is how you will know if you are approaching the threshold.
Frequently asked questions
Is there VAT on ebooks in the UK?
No. Ebooks have been zero-rated since 1 May 2020. The exception is an e-publication that is more than half advertising, audio or video.
Is there VAT on audiobooks?
Yes, 20%. HMRC says audiobooks “remain taxable at the standard rate whether supplied in a physical or digital format.”
Are journals, planners and notebooks zero-rated?
Usually not. HMRC treats diaries, address books, account books and exercise books as stationery, which is standard-rated. Amazon’s own list of books that may be standard-rated includes “Notebooks, planners, diaries”.
Are children’s colouring books zero-rated?
Yes, if they are suitable for children: HMRC says children’s colouring books are zero-rated unless they contain content only suitable for adults or are sold as an adult product.
Does Amazon pay me VAT on my royalties?
No. Amazon adds VAT to the customer’s price and works out your royalty on the price without VAT.
When do I have to register for VAT?
When your taxable turnover goes over £90,000 in any rolling 12 months, or you expect it to in the next 30 days. Zero-rated book sales count towards that.
Should I put VAT on the price on my copyright page?
No. Leave prices off the book file altogether; they change. Our copyright page template shows what does belong there.
Final thoughts
For most UK self-publishers VAT is close to a non-issue: books and ebooks are 0%, Amazon handles the customer side, and you are a long way below £90,000. The exceptions are audiobooks, low-content journals and planners, and authors whose direct sales are growing fast.
If you are getting your tax position straight at the same time, the UK author tax checklist covers registration, expenses and deadlines, and the UK self-publishing legal and tax hub puts ISBNs, copyright, legal deposit and HMRC in one place.
— Robert publishing.co.uk
