The different tax rates on food are not easy to keep track of because they partly depend on where the food is purchased and consumed.
VAT on food and drinks in stores will be reduced from 12 to 6 percent. Food taken from a restaurant (takeaway) will be subject to 6 percent VAT, just like in stores, while food eaten on site will still have 12 percent VAT.
If food is ordered from a restaurant for home delivery, it will be subject to 6 percent VAT, but only if the restaurant delivers it itself. If a delivery or app company, such as Foodora or Wolt, is used instead, the delivery will be subject to 25 percent VAT.
This means an increased administrative burden for companies and cafes that have to deal with different tax rates, according to Thomas Jakobsson.
There will be a lot of unnecessary discussions about 'is this a 6 percent meatball or is it a 12 percent meatball?' he says.
The government has stated that the new VAT rates will lead to increased administrative costs. According to Visita's calculations, this is around SEK 400 million.
In addition, there will be a lot of tax errors. Through this enormously expensive reform, almost a billion kronor in tax revenue will go up in smoke unnecessarily, says Thomas Jakobsson.
