Printing

This Overheads code records the cost of printing incurred in running the business. As an expense account, it normally carries a debit balance: debit entries increase the balance (recording new costs) and credit entries decrease it (for example, correcting an error or a refund received).

Real-world examples

Publisher or training provider

Commissioning a print run of course workbooks or booklets for delegates. Genuine printed reading matter — books, booklets and brochures — is zero-rated for VAT under HMRC's rules on printed matter, so a £4,000 invoice for 2,000 workbooks carries no VAT at all: the full £4,000 is a debit to 7500 (Printing) with nothing posted to 2201 (Purchase Tax Control Account), and £4,000 credited to 2100 (Creditors Control Account).

Retail or marketing

Ordering point-of-sale posters and promotional flyers for a product launch. Printed items designed mainly to advertise rather than to convey text-based information are standard-rated, not zero-rated, so a £2,400 invoice (£2,000 net) is a debit of £2,000 to 7500, a debit of £400 to 2201, and a credit of £2,400 to 2100.

Most everyday office printing — letterheads, compliment slips, business cards — follows the same standard-rated treatment as the marketing example above, whatever the industry, since it's stationery rather than genuine printed reading matter.

Commonly confused with

Because code 7501 (Postage and Carriage) sits right next to this one in Overheads, it's a common mis-posting target. Code 7500 is specifically for printing, while 7501 covers postage and carriage — similar in nature, but keeping them separate is what makes the overheads section of your management accounts meaningful rather than a single lumped total.

What a mis-posting here costs you

An error posting to Printing won't change total overhead spend, but it will distort the overheads breakdown that's usually reviewed line by line each month to spot cost creep.

Other codes in Overheads