Charities’ digital advertising confirmed as zero rated

Further to correspondence between the Charity Tax Group and HMRC in July 2020 HMRC has confirmed that digital advertising supplied to charities will qualify for zero rating.

Revenue and Customs Brief 13/2020 sets out the department’s views on the VAT status several types of digital advertising supplied to charities.

HMRC now accepts that ‘location targeting’ - where individuals opt in to provide location data this information is collected and combined into large datasets to target audiences who have visited particular areas - can in principle qualify for the zero rate. The Charity Tax Group welcomed HMRC’s change of heart on this aspect saying it would not only save an element of VAT cost but makes the application of the policy much simpler with the only boundary line as between sites where there are personal accounts and ones without.

Charity Tax...