Sweden cuts VAT on food to 6%, but eat-in restaurant service stays at 12%
- Jurisdiction
- Sweden
- Tax
- VAT
- Change type
- Rate change
- Status
- In force
- Impact
- Plan ahead
- Announced
- 25 February 2026
- Effective
- 1 April 2026
- Authority
- Skatteverket (Swedish Tax Agency)
- Systems
- Tax engine, POS, ERP
- Verified
- Fetched from official source · high confidence
Businesses selling foodstuffs in Sweden, including restaurants and food-service operators selling takeaway food. The 12% rate continues to apply to on-premises restaurant and catering services.
Confirm Swedish food supplies are taxed at 6% rather than 12% from 1 April 2026, and diarise the reversion after 31 December 2027.
Tax enginePOSERP
Sweden has temporarily reduced the VAT rate on foodstuffs from 12% to 6% with effect from 1 April 2026, running to 31 December 2027. The measure was proposed by the Government in Proposition 2025/26:55 and approved by the Riksdag on 25 February 2026 (Skatteutskottet report 2025/26:SkU9). Skatteverket states that the rate on restaurant services remains 12%, so a restaurant selling both eat-in and takeaway food applies 12% to the former and 6% to the latter.
What changed in detail
Sweden temporarily reduced the VAT rate on foodstuffs from 12% to 6%, effective 1 April 2026 through 31 December 2027. The measure was proposed by the Government in Proposition 2025/26:55 and approved by the Riksdag on 25 February 2026 (Skatteutskottets betänkande 2025/26:SkU9). Skatteverket states that the rate on restaurant services is unchanged at 12% — so a restaurant selling both eat-in meals and takeaway food must apply 12% to the eat-in portion and 6% to the takeaway portion of the same transaction.
What it means
The eat-in/takeaway split is the operational detail that actually matters: a single food-service business now runs two VAT rates side by side depending on how each item is consumed, not one blanket rate cut. Point-of-sale and invoicing systems need to distinguish dine-in from takeaway at the point of sale, not simply re-tag “food” at 6%. The reduction is dated to expire on 31 December 2027, so it is worth diarising the reversion back to 12% rather than treating 6% as the new permanent rate.
Proof
Skattesatsen på livsmedel sänks till 6 procent från tidigare 12 procent den 1 april 2026.The tax rate on foodstuffs is reduced to 6 percent from the previous 12 percent as of 1 April 2026.
Source snapshot of the official page. Open full size ↗Archived from the official distribution · Skatteverket news item, "Livsmedelsmomsen sänks till 6 procent" · www.skatteverket.se