Like so many before me I am about to venture into the world of RPG publishing. I plan to produce a small print run and also make the game available as a pdf.

Today’s questions: I’m based in the UK and am not intending to register for VAT - but can anyone advise me as to the VAT implications?

1. Is the printing of my rule book (or supplements) subject to a VAT charge from the printer?

2. Does a retailer need to add VAT when they sell the product (pdf or print)?

3. Are there any tax implications that I need to be aware of if/when selling abroad (US/EU)

Thanks in advance

Hopefully something of what I am about to post may help,

You might want to look at the HMRC site on VAT ratings for printed materials;-
http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vat/leaflets/printing-and-printed-matter.html

The printing of books qualifies for zero rating, but there is a question of what an RPG would be treated as by HMRC ( a book or a game). In the past HMRC have treated my RPGs as books but if I understand it correctly, if I included dice or did them as a boxed set (not that you see many of those these days) that would be a different kettle of fish.

Obviously you don’t need to register for VAT if your turnover is under the VAT threshold, which I infer from your post you knew already.

Tax laws abroad are something I’m not terribly up on, but I’ve never hit any issues myself.  Most of my PDFs are sold via OBS, and all of my foreign hardcopy sales so far have been via a POD company (lulu) who have handled that for me when fulfilling orders placed by end users.

Now, if you are having print runs printed and sent to you and you then send them on to foreign distributors, that is something I’ve not done yet so I can’t be any help there I’m afraid ( not that I feel I am being as helpful as I had hoped I could be to be honest).

Thanks DJ Ghost,

That is as I thought.

I've just been discussing this whole issue with a friend of mine who is (successfully) selling a graphic novel series through an app on itunes, as well as from Amazon as hardcopy.

VAT on print copies is zero rated in the UK, but check if you are selling in the states what the policy of the retailer is -in theory it should be fine; they sell, you get your percentage you don't have to pay anything to the UK gov't because its zero rated -but do check.

With ebooks it's a bit of a 'mare at the moment with VAT in the UK; digital formats are fully VAT liable- and that's 20% of the sale price.

The whole issue of direct to public sales abroad is also a grey area. If you are selling through an online retailer then they will usually be charging VAT on the sale price at their own country's rate, but as the supplier, technically you should get away with not paying HMRC any VAT (or charging it) until your profits are over £42k (check that I may be out of date).

So don't register for VAT if you can avoid it.

Or you could just ignore it and hope no-one notices.