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Portugal: Temporary VAT exemption to certain food products

Portugal - 

Portugal Tax Alert

Law no. 17/2023, of April 14, recently approved determines the exceptional and temporary application of VAT exemption to certain food products, from 18 April to 31 October 2023, to mitigate the inflation effect.

Operations related to imports, intra-community acquisitions of goods and domestic supplies of the food products covered by this VAT exemption (zero-rated) allow input VAT deduction.

In the meantime, the Portuguese Tax Authority issued some clarifications on the application of the this measure through Official-Letter no. 30257/2023, of April 14.

Find below a list of food products to which the mentioned VAT exemption applies.

  • Cereals and derivatives, tubers:
  • Bread;
  • Potatoes in their natural state, fresh or chilled;
  • Pasta and similar dry pastes, excluding stuffed pasta;
  • Rice (in skins, bleached, polished, glazed, stewed, converted into cracks).
  • Vegetables and vegetables, fresh or chilled, dried, dehydrated or frozen, even if previously cooked:
  • Onion;
  • Tomato;
  • Cauliflower;
  • Lettuce;
  • Broccoli;
  • Carrot;
  • Courgette;
  • French garlic;
  • Pumpkin;
  • Turnip greens;
  • Portuguese cabbage;
  • Spinach;
  • Turnip;
  • Peas.
  • Fruits in their natural state:
  • Apple;
  • Banana;
  • Orange;
  • Pear;
  • Melon.
  • Legumes in dry state:
  • Red bean;
  • Black-eyed beans;
  • Chickpea.
  • Dairy products:
  • Natural cow's milk, sterilized, pasteurized, ultra-pasteurized, fermented or powdered;
  • Yogurt or fermented milk;
  • Cheeses.
  • Meat and edible offal, fresh or frozen from:
  • Pork;
  • Chicken;
  • Turkey;
  • Cow.
  • Fresh fish (live or dead), chilled, frozen, dried, salted or in brine, excluding smoked or preserved fish:
  • Cod;
  • Sardine;
  • Hake;
  • Horse mackerel;
  • Sea bream;
  • Mackerel.
  • Canned tuna.
  • Chicken eggs, fresh, dried or preserved.
  • Fats and oils:
  • Oil;
  • Directly edible vegetable oils and their mixtures (food oils);
  • Butter.
  • Plant-based drinks and yoghurts, without milk or dairy products, based on dried fruits, cereals or preparations based on cereals, fruits, vegetables or horticultural products.
  • Dietetic products intended for enteral nutrition and gluten-free products for celiac patients.