Sweden restaurant VAT rate cut to 12%

Sweden has brought forward a cut of VAT rate on restaurant and catering services to help stimulate job creation for young people.

As part of a package to help cut costs for the industry, restaurant related-services will be reclassified from the standard VAT rate of 25% to a 12% rate. The whole package is worth over 5 billion crowns, and is a long-term commitment of the right wing minority government.

This follows a similar move by Ireland cutting tourism VAT to 9%.