VAT rates on food and beverages

Verified 03 December 2025 - Entreprendre Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

The sale of food and beverages, in commerce, restaurants, cafés, bars, whether on site or to take away, is subject to different VAT rates (value added tax). There is a reduced 5.5%, an intermediate rate of 10% and the full (or normal) rate at 20%.

This list is intended to be exhaustive. However, it is possible to find establishments selling food and beverages that are not listed.

  • Traditional restaurant, bar, café, brasserie
  • Collective catering (school or company canteen)
  • Fast food (fast food) on site
  • Catering to take away or deliver
  • Food truck, pizza truck, street vendor
  • Food market
  • Large food surface
  • Small retail area (grocery store, supermarket, etc.)
  • Retail food trade: butcher, delicatessen, baker, pastry chef, chocolatier, cheese maker, fish maker, etc.
  • Catering with table service (family celebrations, weddings, seminars, etc.)
  • Dining area located in a show establishment (theater, cabaret, cinema, circus, etc.), a museum, a sports area, a shopping center, a gas station, a nightclub, etc.
  • Vending machine for beverages or food products
  • Catering service on board trains and boats
  • Board and half-board hotel, including breakfast included in the price of the night (cottage, bed and breakfast, hotel-restaurant, etc.).

General rule: immediate or delayed consumption

In order to determine the VAT rate applicable to a food or beverage product, it is necessary to determine whether it is sold for a immediate consumption or if it can be retained.

It exists 3 rates VAT on these products:

  • 5.5% on a product packaged in a container allowing its conservationtherefore, for consumption that can be deferred. The container must be airtight, with a shelf life.
  • 10% on a product sold for a immediate consumption (at the restaurant for example)
  • 20% on all types of alcoholic drinks, regardless of the type of consumption, immediate or delayed. This rate also applies to certain confectionery, chocolates, margarines and vegetable fats and caviar (except for immediate consumption where the rate of 10% then applies).

Example :

A small bottle of water sold for consumption on site or take away is sold with a rate of 5.5%. Indeed, the product can be stored for deferred consumption, even if the customer chooses to open it immediately after purchase.

Drinks

The VAT rates are different depending on whether or not alcohol is present in the drink.

Alcoholic

All alcoholic beverages are sold at the standard rate of 20%.

These are beverages with a more than 1.2 degrees of alcohol and beers measuring more than 0,5°, whatever their method of manufacture or the mixtures made.

This rate applies to all types of sales: take away or on site, in a sealed container or to be consumed immediately.

Example :

The applied rate of 20% is the same for a bottle of whisky bought in supermarkets, supermarkets or for a drink taken in a bar or restaurant. This rate applies to a glass of pure whisky as well as to a mixture of whisky and coca. Similarly, this rate is applied to a glass of kir (a mixture of blackcurrant cream and white wine) as well as to a glass of wine or a glass of pure vodka.

Without alcohol

The VAT rate differs depending on the container: for immediate or hermetic consumption allowing the drink to be stored.

Glass, cup, etc.

The intermediate rate of 10% applies to non-alcoholic beverages served in containers that do not allow their preservation: cups, plastic glasses, etc.

These drinks are intended for immediate consumption.

Bottle, can, keg, etc.

The rate reduced to 5.5% applies to water and non-alcoholic beverages served in sealed containers: bottle, can, keg, brick, etc.

These beverages can be stored and intended for deferred consumption.

Food

1 - Dishes served in the restaurant

All meals served in the restaurant are charged at the intermediate rate of 10%.

The following types of restores are affected:

  • Traditional restaurant
  • Bar, café, in the dining room or at the counter
  • Fast food, fast food to eat on site
  • Fast food in the seller's premises, for example in a bakery, supermarket, shopping center.

Example :

A bakery that offers a small restaurant on-site invoices the products concerned (coffee, salad, croissants, yogurt, chips, fruit, etc.) at the intermediate rate of 10%.

2 - Catering service by a caterer “outside the walls” (family celebrations, etc.)

All products served by a caterer at a family party, business party, etc., are charged at the intermediate rate of 10%.

This service is considered a traditional on-site catering.

3 - Dishes and food delivered (at home, office, etc.)

Pizzas, sushi, ready meals, etc. delivered for immediate consumption are sold at the rate of 10%.

4 - Dishes and food sold for take-away

The VAT rate varies if the product is sold for immediate consumption or in a way that can be deferred.

Immediate consumption

The sandwichesquiches, pizzas, pancakes, fries, kebabs, hamburgers, salads, desserts, ready meals, etc. sold for takeaway catering are charged at the rate of 10%.

This rate applies equally whether the food is sold hot or cold.

Example :

One cooked dish take-away at a caterer, for example an asian caterer, is sold at the intermediate rate of 10%. However, if the caterer does not have a restaurant on site, the cooked takeaway is charged at the reduced rate of 5.5%.

The ice cream sold individually for immediate consumption, in jars, sticks, cones, etc. are charged at the intermediate rate of 10%.

Warning  

Yogurt, packets of crisps and fruit per unit sold during a takeaway are charged at the reduced rate of 5.5%.

Retail trade

All foods sold in a retail trade, such as a butcher, delicatessen, baker, fishmonger, etc. and all foods sold in supermarket are charged at the reduced rate of 5.5%.

This rate applies equally if the products are hermetically packaged (canned, frozen, etc.) or sold in the fresh department.

These foods are considered to be intended for deferred consumption.

Example :

Breads, pastries, pastries, meats, cold cuts, prepared deli dishes, fish, cheese, grocery, frozen (ice cream and others), canned goods, yogurt, cream, butter, vegetables, fruits, etc. are charged at the reduced rate of 5.5%.

Dark chocolate (e.g. dark chocolate bar) is taxed at a reduced rate of 5.5%.

On the other hand, white or milk chocolate is taxed at a normal rate of 20%. The same standard rate also applies to non-dark chocolate bites exceeding 5 cm or 20 gr.

For more details, it is possible to consult official public finance bulletin dedicated to foods including chocolate.

The pastries containing alcohol (e.g. rum babas) are also sold at the reduced rate of 5.5%, as well as chocolate topping and glazing products considered as desserts.

A caterer's ready meals, if he does not have a restaurant on site, are also charged at the reduced rate of 5.5%.

5 - Sweets, chocolate and chocolate products, caviar, margarines

The VAT rate varies if the product is purchased in store or consumed in a restaurant.

In store

Confectionery, chocolate products, margarines and caviar have a full rate of 20% when sold in containers that allow their preservation.

They are intended for deferred consumption.

Warning  

Dark chocolate (e.g. dark chocolate bar) is taxed at a reduced rate of 5.5%. On the other hand, white or milk chocolate is taxed at a normal rate of 20%. The same standard rate also applies to non-dark chocolate bites exceeding 5 cm or 20 gr.

For more details, it is possible to consult official public finance bulletin dedicated to foods including chocolate.

Confectionery products are:

  • Sweets (dragees, pralines, lozenges, etc.)
  • Caramels, nougats
  • Cashew, gum
  • Fruit and vegetable products, candied or sugar-glazed (e.g. chestnuts)
  • Almond pastes, pralines; mixtures of cooked or raw almonds or hazelnuts and sugar, the ‘tant tant tant’ (mixture of equal quantities of almond powder and sugar), when presented in confectionery form
  • Fruit pasta insofar as it is a confectionery item: sweets, bites, doughnuts, pallets, etc.
  • Calissons.

Please note

Articles with a sweet flavor presented in the form of confectionery and in which the sugars have been partially or totally substituted shall also be subject to the full rate of 20%.

In catering

The intermediate rate at 10% applies to confectionery, chocolate products, margarines and caviar when sold in the context of catering. 

They are intended for immediate consumption.

Confectionery products are:

  • Sweets (dragees, pralines, lozenges, etc.)
  • Caramels, nougats
  • Cashew, gum
  • Fruit and vegetable products, candied or sugar-glazed
  • Almond pastes, pralines; mixtures of cooked or raw almonds or hazelnuts and sugar, the ‘tant tant tant’ (mixture of equal quantities of almond powder and sugar), when presented in confectionery form
  • Fruit pasta insofar as it is a confectionery item: sweets, bites, doughnuts, pallets, etc.
  • Calissons.
6 - Seafood platter

Seafood served for immediate consumption, i.e. open seafood, is charged at the intermediate rate of 10%.

These are seafood platters served in traditional restaurants but also during takeaway catering or sold by a food truck.

FYI  

On the other hand, seafood purchased from a fishmonger or from the fishmonger's department of a supermarket is charged at the reduced rate of 5.5%.

When a sale includes several products subject to different VAT rates, the seller has the choice between 2 methods of rate allocation, which are each accepted by the tax administration.

  • The seller can apply to each product sound corresponding rate. We're talking about breakdown of revenue.
  • It may decide not to apply ventilation: in this case, the entire invoice is then subject to highest VAT rate.

Example :

If a food truck sells a sandwich with an alcoholic beverage without making a breakdown, the VAT applied to that sale will be the highest, that is to say, that of the alcoholic beverage, at the full rate of 20%. While if it breaks down its VAT rates, it will apply the intermediate rate of 10% on the sandwich and the normal rate of 20% on the drink.

Who can help me?

The public service accompanying companies

Do you have a project, a difficulty, a question of everyday life?
Simple and free: you are called back within 5 days by THE advisor who can help you.

Get a phone call with an advisor