Books | VAT.law

- Significant number of leaves held together with front and back cover

"[44] HMRC's Statement of Case put the Appellant to proof as to whether its final outputs were books. We were provided with samples of the Appellant's end product. They all had a significant number of leaves held together with front and back covers more substantial than the leaves and therefore met the minimum characteristic of a book as required by Customs and Excise Commissioners v Colour Offset Ltd [1995] STC 85. There was no suggestion from HMRC that the samples we had were not representative of the Appellant's supplies and therefore we find that the Appellant's final outputs are books." (Story Terrace Limited v. HMRC [2025] UKFTT 1554 (TC), Judge Pettifer)

- Ghost-written book still a supply of a book (customisation did not predominate)

"[68] We do not consider that this is a case where the bespoke nature/aspect of the Appellant's supplies dominates such that we can conclude that the Appellant is making standard-rated supplies. That is because our view is the Contract's purpose reflects the typical consumer's and that is ensuring that a book is produced to be shared and enjoyed in its physical form: in other words that is the economic and commercial reality of the transaction, and its economic purpose.

[69] In light of the above we consider that the typical consumer would regard the provision of the book as qualitatively the most important element of the Appellant's supply. Therefore, in light of the Contract the provision of the book is the predominant element of the Appellant's supply." (Story Terrace Limited v. HMRC [2025] UKFTT 1554 (TC), Judge Pettifer)