21 May 2020 
Andrea Marshall, Tax Specialist
Jisc have issued the following e-mail to Jisc Collections Consortium and have agreed that it can be can shared ion our website. Please note that Jisc no longer have the view that the actual title needs to be provided in a physical form in order for an e-publication to be eligible for zero-rating - it is whether it could be provided in a physical form and that it has the characteristics of a book or journal.
Within this article Jisc confirm that it will be issuing credit notes for post 1 May supplies, where it has raised the invoice for the supply.
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Dear colleagues,
On Thursday 30 April, HMRC announced the introduction of the VAT zero-rating for e-books, e-newspapers, e-magazines and academic e-journals with effect from 1 May 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this was brought forward from the original date of 1 December 2020 to reduce the cost of access to online publications to consumers. As we had not yet completed our preparations for this change, we took the decision to pause purchasing on both Licence Subscriptions Manager and Chest to enable us to review the applicability of the new rules to agreements and prevent VAT being applied where it no longer should be.
We have now resumed the ability to purchase for both Licence subscriptions manager and Chest. There are however some agreements, which following our review, we are seeking further advice on. Further details are provided below.
Which agreements is the new VAT zero-rating applicable to?
The zero-rating is generally available on all electronically provided books and journals where there is a physical counterpart. E-publications that are wholly or predominantly devoted to advertising or to audio or video content are specifically excluded from zero-rating and will continue to be standard rated.
Ensuring correct implementation for our agreements
Since the announcement, we reviewed all our agreements to determine which agreements the change applies to.
We have identified categories of agreements as follows:
1. Agreements to remain at the standard VAT rate
2. Agreements to change to the zero VAT rate
3. Agreements where further clarification of the VAT rate is required
4. Agreements that are Jisc negotiated but directly purchased and invoiced by the publisher or subscription agent
Agreements that have been assessed as being in category 1 or 2 are now available for purchase on Licence subscriptions manager and Chest.
Agreements in category 3, which require further clarification, will not be available on the catalogue of Licence subscriptions manager or the Agreements section of Chest until a final assessment on the status has been made. This is to avoid incorrect charges to you.
Agreements under investigation – category 3
We have been taking tax advice and are working with sector bodies such as BUFDG and publishers to ensure consistency in our sector, and we are continuing to undertake further work and seek clarification around the following categories of agreements:
We will prioritise reinstating purchasing for new agreements beginning in 2020 and those one-off purchase agreements that are likely to be needed at this time of year.
Read and publish
Jisc is working with tax advisors to provide information to inform the VAT assessment of read and publish agreements. While this is taking place, we will continue to invoice read and publish agreements as standard rated and we will confirm this approach with the relevant publishers and subscription agents
Publisher or subscription agent invoiced agreements – category 4
Where you have purchased a Jisc negotiated agreement directly from a publisher or subscription agent, it will be the responsibility of the publisher to confirm the VAT rate applicable now and apply the zero-rating where it is required. Jisc is not in a position to determine the VAT treatment on those agreements and the extent to which any VAT credit notes will be available.
Agreements pre-1 May 2020
For existing agreements, Jisc will seek to issue a VAT credit note for the proportion of the service which has been invoiced by Jisc and which relates to the period which can be zero-rated after 1 May 2020. We will be raising these credit notes within 45 days.
As noted above, for agreements invoiced by the publisher or the subscription agent, please seek confirmation and VAT credits directly.
Agreements in the future
We are keen that our treatment of VAT does not inadvertently disincentivise the take up of certain agreements over others. Over the coming months we will review the structure of our agreements and the invoicing process so that institutions gain the maximum benefit from the VAT ruling.
Best wishes,
Jisc Licensing
