Hungary Plans 5% VAT Cut on Fruit and Vegetables

• EU VAT rules require at least one standard rate of 15% or more, and allow up to two reduced rates of at least 5% for specified goods and services.
• Hungary applies a 27% standard VAT rate, plus reduced rates of 18% and 5%, and an exceptionally narrow 0% rate for newspapers published at least four times per week.
• The 5% rate covers items like medicines, certain medical/nutritional products, books, internet access, public heating, and some live animals/fish; the 18% rate applies to milk/dairy and certain cereal/flour/starch/milk products.
• The EU’s 2022 reform broadened the use of reduced VAT rates, but did not require Member States to use them.
• Hungary’s new government plans to cut VAT on fruit and vegetables from 27% to 5%, aiming to lower consumer prices despite an estimated HUF 150 billion annual revenue loss.

Source: ceelegalmatters.com

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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