Removal of VAT on essential food items
- VAT Removal on Essentials: Trinidad and Tobago has zero-rated over 16 essential food items effective October 17, 2025, to make basic foods more affordable and support local agriculture.
- Tax System Reform: This measure is the first step toward replacing the current 12.5% VAT system with a simpler sales tax structure to ease business administration and improve compliance.
- Legal Framework: Details are outlined in Legal Notice No. 380 of the 2025/2026 budget, with the full list of zero-rated items available on the Ministry of Finance website.
Source Pagero
- Over 16 basic food items are now VAT-free effective October 17.
- The VAT removal was announced as a short-term measure to improve food affordability.
- Only unprocessed local produce is zero-rated, encouraging value addition in agriculture.
- VAT-free items include table salt, cocoa powder, mauby, icing sugar, grapefruit juice, vanilla essence, soy sauce, prepared mustard, jams, preserved fruits and nuts, coconut water, condiments, cocoa beverages, vegetarian meat substitutes, cakes, muffins, and certain local vegetables.
Source: newsday.co.tt
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.
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