Austria has amended the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (UStG 1994) to introduce a new reduced VAT category for selected essential food products, including dairy items, eggs, fruits, vegetables, grains and other staple foods, with the changes taking effect from 1 July 2026.
Austria has published a law in the Federal Law Gazette (BGBl. I No. 37/2026) on 10 June 2026 introducing reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) rate for a range of essential food products under amendments to the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (UStG 1994).
The amendment creates a new 4.9% VAT rate for the supply and import of specified staple food products listed in a new Annex 3 (Anlage 3). The new rate takes precedence over the existing reduced VAT rates of 10% and 13%, which will apply only where the 4.9% rate is not available.
The reduced rate covers selected basic food items identified by Combined Nomenclature (CN) codes, including milk, yoghurt, butter, fresh chicken eggs, certain fruits and vegetables, rice, wheat flour, bread, table salt and unprepared pasta. The preferential treatment is limited to products falling within the specific CN positions and sub-positions listed in Annex 3.
The new provisions apply to transactions and taxable events occurring after 30 June 2026.
Earlier, The Austrian Parliament (Nationalrat) approved on 21 May 2026 a draft bill introducing a reduced Value Added Tax (VAT) rate on staple foods.
