Readers’ forum: Is charity subscription zero rating still correct?

One of my clients is a registered charity and charges a subscription of £35 per month to its members.

The charitable activity is to organise and promote ‘park runs’ for the over 50s across the midlands. The subscription is the charity’s only source of income. The charity is VAT registered on a voluntary basis and has always treated £25 per month of the subscription as exempt from VAT and £10 as zero rated. The zero rating relates to a monthly newsletter issued to all members and means that the charity can reclaim some input tax on its overheads. My concern is two-fold:

• The £10 proportion was historically based on the cost of producing the newsletter – including postage – plus a 50% mark-up agreed with the local VAT office many years ago.
• The newsletter is no longer printed and posted but is available for members to view online only. Is...