Enacted 🚨 Action required Rate change

Iceland’s 11% fuel VAT expires on 1 September 2026

Jurisdiction
Iceland
Tax
VAT
Change type
Rate change
Status
Enacted
Impact
Action required
Announced
3 August 2026
Effective
1 September 2026
Instrument
IS-LAW-34-2026
Authority
Stjórnartíðindi (Icelandic Official Gazette), A-deild 34/2026
Systems
POS, Tax engine, ERP
Verified
Fetched from official source · high confidence
Who this affects

Sellers of petrol and diesel in Iceland. Nothing has to be enacted for the rate to go back to 24% — the temporary provision expires by its own terms on 31 August 2026, so the risk is a system left on 11% rather than a change to watch for.

What to do

Revert POS and tax-engine VAT on petrol and diesel (tariff codes 2710.1221, 2710.1229, 2710.1930, 2710.2021, 2710.2029, 2710.2065 and 3826.0000) from 11% to the 24% standard rate on 1 September 2026, unless an extension is published before 31 August 2026.

POSTax engineERP

The change

Iceland's temporary 11% VAT rate on petrol and diesel, introduced by Lög nr. 34/2026 which added ákvæði til bráðabirgða XLIX to VAT Act nr. 50/1988, applies only from 1 May 2026 to 31 August 2026. By the law's own terms the rate reverts to the 24% standard rate from 1 September 2026. As at 3 August 2026 no extending or repealing law had been published in Stjórnartíðindi A-deild, whose most recent entry is dated 30 July 2026.

What changed in detail

The temporary 11% VAT rate on petrol and diesel was introduced by Lög nr. 34/2026 with an expiry written into the law itself: it applies only from 1 May to 31 August 2026. No extending or repealing law had been published in Stjórnartíðindi A-deild as at 3 August 2026, the most recent entry being 30 July. Absent an extension, the rate reverts to the 24% standard rate on 1 September. (Stjórnartíðindi, Skatturinn)

What it means

This is a reversion that happens by default — nobody has to legislate for the rate to go back up, which is exactly why it gets missed. A 13-point move on fuel, at the pump, with four weeks’ notice and no announcement to prompt it.

Proof

skal virðisaukaskattur vera 11% við innflutning og skattskylda sölu á eldsneyti sem fellur undir tollskrárnúmer 2710.1221, 2710.1229, 2710.1930, 2710.2021, 2710.2029, 2710.2065 og 3826.0000 á tímabilinu frá og með 1. maí 2026 til og með 31. ágúst 2026.
Lög nr. 34/2026 um breytingu á lögum um virðisaukaskatt og samkeppnislögum (skatthlutfall eldsneytis) — Stjórnartíðindi (Icelandic Official Gazette), A-deild 34/2026 · captured 7 August 2026
Screenshot of Stjórnartíðindi (Icelandic Official Gazette), A-deild 34/2026 captured 7 August 2026, showing the quoted passage Source snapshot of the official page. Open full size ↗

Sources

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