It was approved Law no. 17/2023, of 14-04-2023, that provides for the transitional application of a Value Added Tax (VAT) exemption with a right to deduction (zero rate) to the products of the essential healthy food basket, as an exceptional and temporary measure in response to the extraordinary increase in food prices.
 
According to the law, the imports and supplies of the following food products are now exempt from VAT:

a- Cereals and derivatives, tubers: bread; potatoes in their natural state, fresh or refrigerated; pasta and similar dried pasta, excluding stuffed pasta; rice (shelled, whipped, polished, glazed, stewed, broken).

b- Vegetables and fresh or chilled, dried, dehydrated or frozen, even if previously cooked: onions; tomatoes; cauliflower; lettuce; broccoli; carrots; zucchinis; leeks; pumpkin; sprouts; Portuguese cabbage; spinach; turnips; peas.

c- Fruits in their natural state: apple; banana; orange; pear; melon.

d- Leguminous in dried state: red beans; kidney beans; chickpeas.

e- Dairy products: cow's milk in nature, sterilized, pasteurized, ultrapasteurized, fermented or powdered; yogurts or fermented milks; cheeses.

f- Meat and edible offal, fresh or frozen of: pork; chicken; turkey; beef.

g- Fresh fish (live or dead), chilled, frozen, dried, salted or in brine, excluding smoked or canned fish: cod; sardines; hake; horse mackerel; sea bream; mackerel.

h- Canned tuna;

i- Hens' eggs, fresh, dried or preserved;

j- Fats and oils: olive oil; directly edible vegetable oils and their mixtures (edible oils); butter.

k- Vegetable-based beverages and yogurts, without milk and dairy products, produced from nuts, cereals or preparations based on cereals, fruits, vegetables or legumes;

l- Dietetic products for enteral nutrition and gluten-free products for celiac patients.

The law will come into effect on April 18, 2023, and will remain in force until October 31, 2023.

For more information on this Tax Alert please contact:
[email protected]