The upper tribunal gave its appeal decision favoring News Corp UK and Ireland Limited, a representative member of a VAT group that publishes well-known E-newspapers such as The Times, The Sunday Times, The Sun and The Sun on Sunday. It was ruled that newspapers should be zero-rated for VAT, whether digital or printed.
The case was first brought before the First-Tier Tribunal (FTT) by News Corp UK and Ireland Limited with an argument that the digital edition of newspaper should be interpreted as ‘newspaper’ under the Value Added Tax Act (VATA) 1994 and should be zero-rated for VAT. But FTT found and concluded that the zero-rated VAT for E-Newspapers only covered goods and not services under the relevant Schedule.
The Upper Tribunal concluded that the FTT was wrong in its decision, pointing that both goods and services were allowed for zero-rated VAT under Section 30 of VATA.
