Most food you buy in a UK supermarket has no VAT on it. Bread, milk, meat, fruit, vegetables and most everyday groceries are zero-rated. But plenty of food and drink is charged VAT at the standard 20% rate — including crisps, chocolate, ice cream, soft drinks, bottled water, hot takeaways and anything you eat in a café or restaurant.
Quick answer: basic food is zero-rated (0% VAT). Food becomes standard-rated (20%) when it is on HMRC's list of "excepted items" (such as confectionery, crisps and soft drinks), when it is sold hot, or when it is served as catering — for example, eaten on the premises.
Why most food has no VAT
UK VAT law zero-rates "food of a kind used for human consumption". Zero-rated means VAT still applies but at 0%, so shoppers pay no VAT and shops can still reclaim the VAT on their own costs. This keeps the price of everyday groceries down.
The zero rate then has a list of exceptions: items that are food, but are standard-rated anyway. There are also separate rules for catering and hot takeaway food. Almost every food VAT question comes down to one of those three things.
Food and drink with no VAT (zero-rated)
- Bread, rolls, flour and cereals
- Meat, fish, eggs and cheese
- Fresh, frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables
- Milk, and most milk drinks
- Tea, coffee and cocoa (as bought to make at home — tea bags, ground coffee, instant coffee)
- Cakes, including cakes covered in chocolate
- Plain biscuits and biscuits with chocolate chips mixed into the dough
- Cold sandwiches and cold takeaway food eaten off the premises
- Herbs, spices, cooking oils, sugar, and most ingredients
- Baby food
Food and drink charged 20% VAT
1. The "excepted items"
These are standard-rated even though they're food:
- Confectionery — sweets, chocolate bars, chewing gum, and biscuits wholly or partly covered in chocolate
- Crisps and similar savoury snacks made from potato, and savoury snacks made by puffing cereals, such as ready-popped popcorn
- Roasted or salted nuts (other than nuts in their shells)
- Ice cream, ice lollies, frozen yoghurt and similar frozen products
- Soft drinks, including fizzy drinks, squash, fruit juices, sports and energy drinks
- Bottled water, including mineral water
- Alcoholic drinks
- Pet food (it isn't food for human consumption)
2. Hot takeaway food and drink
Takeaway food and drink is standard-rated if it's sold hot. That includes hot takeaway meals, hot pies kept in a heated cabinet, rotisserie chicken kept warm, and takeaway coffee or tea. The rule is about whether the food has been heated so you can eat it hot — not about the temperature at which you eat it.
A loaf of bread sold still warm from the oven is not hot food for VAT, because it was baked to make bread, not heated to be eaten hot. It stays zero-rated.
3. Eating in: catering
Food and drink served for eating on the premises is catering, and catering is standard-rated — whether it's hot or cold. A cold sandwich from a café is 0% if you take it away but 20% if you eat it at a table there. Restaurant meals, room service and event catering are all standard-rated.
Examples: same food, different VAT
| Item | VAT rate | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Cold sandwich, taken away | 0% | Cold takeaway food is zero-rated |
| Cold sandwich, eaten in the café | 20% | Eating on the premises is catering |
| Toasted sandwich, taken away | 20% | Heated to be eaten hot |
| Bag of ground coffee | 0% | Food to prepare at home |
| Takeaway latte | 20% | Hot drink sold for consumption |
| Chocolate-covered cake | 0% | Cakes are zero-rated |
| Chocolate-covered biscuit | 20% | Biscuits covered in chocolate are standard-rated |
| Popping corn kernels (to pop at home) | 0% | An ingredient, not a snack yet |
| Bag of ready-popped popcorn | 20% | Savoury snacks made by puffing cereals are excepted; sweet popcorn counts as confectionery |
| Bag of crisps | 20% | Potato crisps are an excepted item |
| Carton of milk | 0% | Milk is zero-rated |
| Carton of orange juice | 20% | Fruit juice counts as a beverage, which is standard-rated |
| Tub of ice cream | 20% | Frozen confection |
Tip: the famous cake-or-biscuit case is Jaffa Cakes. A tribunal decided in 1991 that they are cakes, so they are zero-rated. The case is a good reminder that VAT on food depends on what a product is, not what it's called.
What this means on a receipt
A supermarket receipt often mixes zero-rated and standard-rated items. Many receipts mark the VAT-able items with a letter or symbol and show a VAT summary at the bottom. If you're VAT registered and buying for the business, you can only reclaim the VAT on the standard-rated items — and business entertaining is generally not reclaimable at all.
To split the VAT out of a standard-rated total, use the Reverse VAT Calculator. At 20%, the VAT is one sixth of the VAT-inclusive price: £3.60 of snacks includes £0.60 VAT.
If you sell food
- Know which lines are standard-rated. A shop, bakery or café will usually sell both zero-rated and standard-rated items, and your till system needs to know which is which.
- Takeaway vs eat-in matters. If you offer both, you need a way to record which is which for items like cold sandwiches.
- Zero-rated sales count towards the VAT threshold. Even if most of what you sell has no VAT, it still counts as taxable turnover. See the VAT registration threshold explained.
- Check borderline products. Cereal bars, flapjacks, coated nuts and new snack products are often borderline. HMRC's food guidance has detailed examples, and you can ask HMRC for a ruling if you're unsure.
Frequently asked questions
Is there VAT on groceries in the UK?
Most groceries are zero-rated, so no. Standard-rated exceptions include confectionery, crisps, ice cream, soft drinks, bottled water and alcohol.
Is there VAT on takeaway food?
Hot takeaway food and drink is charged 20% VAT. Cold takeaway food, such as a sandwich or salad you take away, is usually zero-rated.
Is there VAT on restaurant food?
Yes. Food and drink served to eat on the premises is catering and is charged 20% VAT, even if the food is cold.
Is there VAT on coffee?
Coffee beans, ground coffee and instant coffee to make at home are zero-rated. A coffee bought hot from a coffee shop is standard-rated.
Are the rules the same in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
Yes. VAT on food works the same way across the UK.
The rules above are a summary. For the full detail and HMRC's examples, see HMRC VAT Notice 701/14: Food products and VAT Notice 709/1: Catering and takeaway food. All current rates are on our UK VAT rates page.