Taxes
Bookkeeping
The Low VAT Rate in the Netherlands: Which Goods and Services Qualify for 9%?
Which goods and services still qualify for the Dutch 9% VAT rate in 2026? See the full lists, the hotel and food rate changes, and grey areas.
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15 mins
Intro
Charging the wrong VAT rate is one of the most common compliance errors Dutch entrepreneurs make, and it has real consequences in both directions. Charge 21% when 9% applies and you overcharge clients, remitting more VAT than legally required. Charge 9% when 21% applies and you create a shortfall that the Belastingdienst will recover, with interest added on top. The stakes are higher right now than they have been in years: as of 1 January 2026, logies, meaning hotels, B&Bs, holiday homes, and holiday parks, moved from 9% to 21%. Entrepreneurs in hospitality who have not updated their invoicing since then are currently filing at the wrong rate on every single invoice.
This article sets out exactly what still qualifies for the 9% rate in 2026, what changed in 2025 and 2026, and the grey areas, food and takeaway in particular, that generate more compliance questions than anything else in Dutch VAT. It also covers the practical financial impact of the logies change for hospitality entrepreneurs, since a rate change on paper translates directly into either higher prices for guests or a thinner margin for the business, and most owners have not yet worked out which.
Why the Rate You Charge Matters More Than You Think
Dutch VAT has three rates: 21% (standard), 9% (reduced), and 0% (zero rate for exports and intra-EU supply to VAT-registered businesses). The 9% rate is not a default and it is not a judgment call; it is a closed list defined in Tabel I of the Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968. If your product or service is not explicitly named in that list, the 21% rate applies automatically, and that asymmetry is the source of most rate errors.
The two error types have opposite consequences. Charging 21% when 9% applies means you are overcharging clients and remitting more VAT than legally required; VAT-registered business clients can reclaim the excess, but consumers and ZZP entrepreneurs under the KOR exemption have simply overpaid you. Charging 9% when 21% applies means you have undercollected VAT, and the Belastingdienst will assess the shortfall, add belastingrente on top, and in serious cases impose a verzuimboete. Since correcting either error touches your VAT filings directly, it is worth reviewing when you last checked your invoicing setup against when to file VAT obligations more broadly.
The logies change is the most commercially significant of the two recent shifts. Hotels, pensions, B&Bs, holiday homes, and holiday parks moved from 9% to 21% from 1 January 2026, a 12-percentage-point swing on accommodation revenue that hits margins directly rather than being simply passed through. Entrepreneurs running short-term accommodation who have not updated their invoicing systems since that date are issuing incorrect invoices and filing incorrect quarterly returns without necessarily realising it.
Part of the confusion around this change comes from how it has been reported. Several competitor guides still describe hotels as moving to 21% back in 2025, which is incorrect; others have simply not updated their published rate tables at all and continue to list hotel accommodation under 9% as though the change never happened. Both versions are wrong for 2026, and if you are running invoicing software configured from an older template, it is worth checking the VAT code applied to your accommodation line items specifically, rather than assuming the software updated itself automatically when the law changed.
What Still Qualifies for 9%: Goods
The 9% rate for goods applies to a defined set of categories the Dutch legislator treats as essential or socially important: food, water, medicine, medical aids, books, and periodicals. Outside this list, goods default to 21%, and one category that used to sit comfortably inside the list no longer does.
Category | What qualifies at 9% | Key exclusions |
Levensmiddelen | All food and drink for human consumption | Alcoholic drinks (21%); supplements classified as medicines qualify at 9% |
Water | Tap water, bottled water | Industrial water is not included |
Geneesmiddelen | Prescription and over-the-counter medicines | Cosmetic products without medical purpose (21%) |
Medische hulpmiddelen | Glasses, hearing aids, prosthetics, bandages, wheelchairs | Purely cosmetic devices (21%) |
Boeken | Physical books, e-books, audiobooks | Not software or games packaged as "books" |
Kranten en tijdschriften | Print newspapers, magazines, periodicals; digital editions and online subscriptions | Not advertising-only publications |
Agrarische producten | No longer 9% from 1 January 2025 | Livestock, animal feed, seed potatoes, and planting seed are now 21% |
The agrarische producten change is the most recent goods-category shift and is still incorrectly listed as 9% on several widely referenced Dutch websites. If your business supplies livestock, animal feed, or seed products, the rate has been 21% since 1 January 2025, and it is worth checking your invoicing system now if you have not already done so, particularly if you are moving toward mandatory structured invoicing anyway; see e-invoicing Netherlands for what that transition involves.
One detail worth noting across the goods table: qualification depends on the product itself, not on where it is bought or how it is packaged. A bottle of water is 9% whether it is sold in a supermarket, a vending machine, or a hotel minibar, and a physical book is 9% whether it is sold by a bookshop, a museum gift shop, or an online retailer based outside the Netherlands but registered for Dutch VAT. The exclusions in the right-hand column tend to be the source of disputes precisely because they look similar to the qualifying product on the surface: a herbal supplement marketed as wellness support sits at 21% unless it is formally registered as a medicine, even though it occupies the same shelf as products that do qualify at 9%.
What Still Qualifies for 9%: Services
The reduced rate for services is narrower than for goods and covers a specific set of socially valuable activities: passenger transport, campground stays, certain home renovation work, hairdressing, bicycle repair, cultural access, and the direct sale of art by its creator.
Service | What qualifies at 9% | Key detail |
Personenvervoer | Train, bus, tram, metro, taxi, ferry, inland waterway passenger transport | Freight and cargo transport is 21% |
Kampeerplaatsen | Campground pitches | Explicitly excluded from the 2026 logies increase; remains 9% |
Schilders- en renovatiediensten | Painting, plastering, insulating, wallpapering, and hanging of residential properties older than 2 years | New construction (under 2 years) is 21%; vacation properties moved to 21% from 2026 |
Kappersdiensten | All hairdressing services for people | Pet grooming is 21% |
Fietsenreparatie | Bicycle repair, including electric bicycles | Moped and motorbike repair is 21% |
Culturele evenementen | Access to museums, concerts, theatre, cinema, zoos, amusement parks | Organisation of private events (21%); some sports facilities (21%) |
Kunst | Supply of artworks by the creator or their heirs | Resale by galleries or dealers is 21%, sometimes under the marge-regeling |
Kappersdiensten and fietsenreparatie were both debated for removal from the 9% list in 2024, but the cabinet ultimately retained both, and they remain at 9% in 2026 with no change currently planned. Since VAT on receivables and unpaid invoices sits directly on your balance sheet, getting the rate right on every invoice also matters for how clean that picture looks; our guide on accountant or bookkeeper covers who typically handles this kind of classification question day to day.
What Changed in 2025 and 2026, and Who Is Affected
The past 18 months have brought two material changes to the 9% category list, and both are still causing compliance errors because invoicing systems and supplier databases have not all been updated to reflect them.
Change | Effective date | Old rate | New rate | Who is affected |
Agrarische producten (livestock, animal feed, seed potatoes, planting seed) | 1 January 2025 | 9% | 21% | Farmers, livestock traders, agricultural suppliers |
Logies (hotels, pensions, B&Bs, holiday homes, holiday parks, short-term rental) | 1 January 2026 | 9% | 21% | Hotels, B&Bs, holiday park operators, Airbnb hosts, short-term rental platforms |
Kampeerplaatsen (campground pitches) | 1 January 2026 | 9% | 9% (unchanged) | Campground operators, explicitly excluded from the logies increase |
The financial impact of the logies change is significant enough to change how a small hospitality business prices its rooms. A B&B with 100,000 euros in annual accommodation revenue was previously remitting roughly 9,000 euros in BTW on that revenue at the 9% rate; from 1 January 2026, the same revenue generates a BTW liability of approximately 17,355 euros at 21%, an increase of over 8,000 euros in annual VAT cost that the entrepreneur must either absorb through higher room rates or accept as a straight reduction in margin. Entrepreneurs who have not updated their invoicing system since 1 January 2026 are issuing invoices with incorrect BTW rates and filing incorrect quarterly returns without knowing it yet. The Belastingdienst is aware of the transition, and a voluntary correction through a suppletieaangifte is available; acting before receiving an inquiry is always the better position to be in.
The Grey Areas: Where the 9% Rate Is Contested
The most common compliance mistakes arise not in the clear-cut categories above but in the borderline cases, where the nature of the supply, not just the underlying product, determines the rate. Four situations account for the majority of the confusion.
Food versus hospitality service is the single most commonly asked question in this topic area, and it is also the least clearly explained anywhere online. Food sold in a supermarket or shop is 9%. That same food, prepared and served in a restaurant as a maaltijd, is 21%, because the supply is a hospitality service rather than a food delivery. Takeaway food occupies the most ambiguous middle ground: cold, unprocessed food sold for takeaway, a sandwich from a bakery or a salad from a deli counter, is generally 9%, while hot prepared food sold for immediate consumption, chips from a snack bar or a hot meal from a food truck, is 21%. A food truck selling a cold sandwich alongside a hot burger from the same counter is charging two different BTW rates on two lines of the same order, and getting this wrong on a delivery menu is one of the easiest ways to misstate VAT across an entire quarter.
Books versus software is a second recurring grey area. A physical or digital book is 9%. Software sold with instructional content that happens to be packaged as a "course book" is 21%, since the Belastingdienst looks at whether the product's primary function is reading and learning from written content; interactive software that merely includes some text alongside it does not qualify for the reduced rate.
Art supply versus art resale is a third. A painter selling their own work charges 9%. A gallery reselling that same painting charges 21%, or applies the marge-regeling for second-hand goods instead; the creator distinction is strict, and only the artist or their direct heirs qualify for the reduced rate.
Renovation versus new construction is the fourth. Painting and plastering a house older than two years is 9%. The same work on a new building is 21%, and the two-year rule is measured from the date of the original building permit, not the date of first occupancy; converting a commercial building into residential use does not automatically qualify for the reduced rate either, regardless of the age of the underlying structure.
The practical rule across all four situations is the same: when in doubt, apply 21%. If you believe the 9% rate applies to something you sell and cannot point to an explicit reference in Tabel I of the Wet OB 1968 or a specific Belastingdienst ruling, do not assume it qualifies; applying the 9% rate incorrectly creates a liability for the undercollected BTW plus interest, and that liability lands on you, not your client. This default-to-21% approach also protects you against a subtler risk: the Belastingdienst's interpretation of Tabel I is strict, and a partial qualification does not create a blended rate. A restaurant meal is unambiguously food, but because the supply is judged by its nature as a hospitality service rather than by the ingredients on the plate, there is no partial credit for the fact that the underlying product would otherwise qualify at 9%. If you are still working out your legal structure and how VAT registration fits into it as a new founder, starting a company in the Netherlands covers where VAT sits in that broader setup process.
Get Your VAT Rates Right Before the Belastingdienst Flags Them
Getting the rate right on every invoice is a small habit with outsized consequences, since a misapplied rate compounds across every quarter until someone catches it, usually the Belastingdienst rather than the business itself. The 2025 and 2026 changes mean that categories many entrepreneurs learned as fixed, agricultural products, hotel stays, are no longer where they used to be, and the cost of getting this wrong only grows the longer an incorrect rate stays on an invoice template.
If you want your invoicing and VAT filings checked against the current rates, or want a system that flags rate changes like the 2026 logies shift automatically instead of relying on someone remembering to update a template, book a demo and we will look through your current setup together. If you are earlier in the process, our team can also help with bookkeeping and payroll or incorporate your BV with the correct VAT settings built in from the first invoice.
FAQs
What is the Dutch VAT low rate and what percentage is it?
The Dutch reduced VAT rate is 9%, applying to a closed list of goods and services defined in Tabel I of the Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968. Anything not explicitly named on that list falls under the standard 21% rate by default.
Which food products qualify for 9% VAT in the Netherlands?
Food and drink for human consumption generally qualifies for 9%, with alcoholic drinks as the main exclusion, which remain at 21%. The rate applies to the product itself; how and where it is sold can change that, as covered below.
Do restaurants charge 9% or 21% VAT?
Restaurants charge 21%. A meal served and consumed on-site is treated as a hospitality service rather than a food supply, which places it outside the 9% food category regardless of the ingredients involved.
Is takeaway food 9% or 21% VAT in the Netherlands?
It depends on the food. Cold, unprocessed takeaway food, such as a sandwich or a salad, is generally 9%. Hot prepared food intended for immediate consumption, such as chips or a hot meal from a food truck, is 21%, even when sold from the same counter as a cold item.
Did the VAT rate for hotels change in 2026?
Yes. From 1 January 2026, logies, meaning hotels, B&Bs, holiday homes, and holiday parks, moved from 9% to 21%. Entrepreneurs in short-term accommodation who have not updated their invoicing since that date are currently charging the wrong rate.
Do campgrounds still charge 9% VAT after the 2026 change?
Yes. Kampeerplaatsen, campground pitches, are explicitly excluded from the 2026 logies increase and remain at 9%, even though hotels and other accommodation types around them moved to 21%.
Is hairdressing still at 9% VAT in 2026?
Yes. Hairdressing services for people remain at 9% in 2026. This category was debated for removal in 2024 but was ultimately retained. Pet grooming is a separate category and is taxed at 21%.
What VAT rate applies to e-books and digital newspapers in the Netherlands?
E-books and digital editions of newspapers and magazines qualify for the 9% rate, the same as their physical equivalents. This has been the case since 2020, when digital publications were brought in line with print.
What happens if I charge the wrong VAT rate?
If you charge 21% when 9% applied, you have overcollected VAT, which VAT-registered clients can generally reclaim, though consumers and KOR-exempt clients have simply overpaid. If you charge 9% when 21% applied, the Belastingdienst will assess the shortfall and add belastingrente, with a verzuimboete possible in more serious cases. A voluntary suppletieaangifte to correct the error before an inquiry begins is generally the better position to be in.
Where can I find the official 9% VAT list for the Netherlands?
The complete legal list is defined in Tabel I (bijlage) of the Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968. If a product or service is not explicitly named there, the standard 21% rate applies by default rather than the reduced rate.
Written by
Nick Knuppe
CEO & Founder
