Electronic newspapers are zero-rated for VAT

The Upper Tribunal has decided that electronic versions of The Times and The Sun are zero-rated for VAT as “newspapers”, applying the ‘always speaking’ construction of the UK legislation. The UT allowed the Appeal of News Corp UK & Ireland against the decision of the FTT; in doing so the UT decided that applying the “always speaking” approach did not amount to extending the zero-rate. Instead, applying it to an item that was in the same genus as the item zero-rated applied to when the law was originally passed in 1972 was permitted.
 
Jonathan Peacock QC acted for News Corp, leading Edward Brown of Essex Court Chambers.