A complete 2026 reference for standard and reduced VAT rates across Europe — including what IVA, TVA, MwSt, BTW, Moms, ÁFA, and ALV actually mean, and how to calculate the exact amount for any country.
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Quick answer: there is no single European VAT rate. Standard rates run from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary, with the EU average around 21.6%. The UK charges 20%, Norway 25% and Switzerland just 8.1% — the lowest in Europe. EU law sets a floor of 15% for the standard rate but no ceiling. The full table for all 30 countries is below; to apply a rate in either direction use the VAT calculator.
Value-Added Tax (VAT) in Europe ranges from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary for the standard rate (European Commission). The UK, which left the EU but kept its own VAT system, charges 20% (HMRC). There is no single "European VAT rate" — each country sets its own standard rate through national law, and most also apply one or more lower reduced rates to specific goods and services. To compare Europe against the US, Canada, and other major economies in one place, see our global VAT, GST & sales tax rates reference.
Rates are only half the picture. How VAT actually works walks the input/output chain stage by stage and explains why zero-rated and exempt supplies behave so differently.
Rates vary this much because VAT is a national tax, not an EU-wide one. The EU only sets minimum rules — a standard rate of at least 15% and reduced rates of at least 5% (Your Europe) — leaving each member state free to set its own exact percentages and decide which categories qualify for a discount. The table below is the fastest way to find the current rate for any country and jump straight to a calculator.
Ranked from highest to lowest, here's how each country's standard VAT rate compares:
| Country | Local VAT name | Standard rate | Typical reduced rate(s) | Calculate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | VAT | 20% | 5%, 0% | Calculate → |
| Germany | MwSt / USt | 19% | 7% | Calculate → |
| France | TVA | 20% | 10%, 5.5%, 2.1% | Calculate → |
| Spain | IVA | 21% | 10%, 4% | Calculate → |
| Italy | IVA | 22% | 10%, 5%, 4% | Calculate → |
| Netherlands | BTW | 21% | 9% | Calculate → |
| Belgium | TVA / BTW | 21% | 12%, 6% | Calculate → |
| Austria | USt | 20% | 13%, 10% | Calculate → |
| Sweden | Moms | 25% | 12%, 6% | Calculate → |
| Poland | VAT / PTU | 23% | 8%, 5% | Calculate → |
| Ireland | VAT | 23% | 13.5%, 9%, 0% | — |
| Luxembourg | TVA | 17% | 14%, 8%, 3% | — |
| Denmark | Moms | 25% | (none) | — |
| Hungary | ÁFA | 27% | 18%, 5% | — |
| Portugal | IVA | 23% | 13%, 6% | — |
| Greece | ΦΠΑ / FPA | 24% | 13%, 6% | — |
| Finland | ALV | 25.5% | 14%, 10% | — |
| Czechia | DPH | 21% | 12% | — |
Don't see a calculator for your country? Use the VAT Reverse Calculator to work forward or backward from any rate and any currency.
Every country in one place — standard rate, every reduced band, the grandfathered super-reduced rate where one exists, and the name VAT actually goes by on a local receipt. Sorted by standard rate, highest first. Reviewed 2026-08-24 against the European Commission's published table1.
6 countries hold a rate below the EU's 5% floor. Ireland (4.8%), Italy (4%), Spain (4%), Luxembourg (3%), France (2.1%) run super-reduced rates that predate the rule and were grandfathered in when the VAT Directive was written2. Cyprus is the modern exception, adding a 3% band in July 2023 under the room Council Directive (EU) 2022/542 opened up for a limited set of Annex III categories.
European VAT rates moved more in the last two years than in the previous decade, and most published comparison tables have not caught up. If you are pricing, invoicing or reconciling across borders, these are the changes that matter:
| Country | Now | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| 🇭🇺 Hungary | 27% | Holds the highest standard VAT rate in the world at 27%. |
| 🇫🇮 Finland | 25.5% | Standard rate rose to 25.5% in September 2024 — the highest in the Nordics — and the reduced band fell from 14% to 13.5% on 1 January 2026. The 10% band now covers newspapers and magazines only; public broadcasting moved up to 13.5%. |
| 🇩🇰 Denmark | 25% | The only EU state with no reduced rate at all; newspapers are zero-rated instead. |
| 🇳🇴 Norway | 25% | Not an EU member; sets its own rates outside the VAT Directive. |
| 🇪🇪 Estonia | 24% | Standard rate rose from 22% to 24% in July 2025. |
| 🇬🇷 Greece | 24% | Law 5246/2025 cut every band by 30% from 1 January 2026 on North Aegean, Dodecanese and Evros islands with 20,000 or fewer inhabitants — 24% becomes 17%, 13% becomes 9% and 6% becomes 4% there. Tobacco and means of transport are excluded; the mainland rates are unchanged. |
| 🇵🇹 Portugal | 23% | Madeira and the Azores run their own lower regional rate schedules. |
| 🇸🇰 Slovakia | 23% | Standard rate rose from 20% to 23% in January 2025. |
| 🇨🇿 Czech Republic | 21% | Consolidated its two reduced rates into a single 12% band in 2024. |
| 🇱🇹 Lithuania | 21% | Law XV-287 abolished the 9% band on 1 January 2026. Accommodation, catering, passenger transport and cultural admissions moved up to a new 12% rate; books, periodicals and medicines moved down to 5%; district heating and firewood went to the full 21%. |
| 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 21% | Accommodation moved from the 9% band to the 21% standard rate from January 2026 — verify before quoting hotel prices. |
| 🇷🇴 Romania | 21% | Standard rate rose from 19% to 21% in August 2025, and the 5% and 9% bands merged into a single 11%. |
| 🇪🇸 Spain | 21% | The Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla sit outside the Spanish VAT area entirely. |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 20% | Outside the EU VAT area since Brexit; runs an unusually wide list of zero-rated goods including most food and children's clothing. |
| 🇨🇾 Cyprus | 19% | Cyprus added a 3% super-reduced band on 21 July 2023 (classical performances, street cleaning, waste collection and treatment, and certain disability goods), joining the small group of member states holding a rate below the EU's 5% floor. |
| 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | 17% | The lowest standard rate in the EU at 17%. |
| 🇨🇭 Switzerland | 8.1% | The lowest VAT rate in Europe by a wide margin. The 3.8% band is specific to accommodation. |
Apply the rate in force on the invoice date. An Estonian invoice from June 2025 correctly shows 22%, not today's 24%; a Romanian one from July 2025 shows 19%, not 21%. When reconciling historic records, a rate that looks wrong is usually a rate that was right at the time.
Hungary 27% · Finland 25.5% · Croatia 25% · Denmark 25% · Norway 25%. Hungary's 27% is the highest standard VAT rate anywhere in the world.
Switzerland 8.1% · Luxembourg 17% · Malta 18% · Germany 19% · Cyprus 19%. Switzerland is the outlier — non-EU, so not bound by the 15% floor.
The spread is genuinely large: the same €1,000 purchase carries €80.10 of VAT in Switzerland and €270 in Hungary. For a business reclaiming input tax the difference washes out, but for a consumer, a non-recoverable buyer, or a tourist claiming a refund it is real money. The comparison against the US, Canada and the rest of the world is on global tax rates.
VAT goes by a different name in almost every language — they all translate to "value-added tax," but the local abbreviation is what appears on receipts, invoices, and price tags:
Same tax, many names: VAT is called IVA in Italy & Spain, TVA in France, MwSt in Germany, BTW in the Netherlands, Moms in the Nordics, and ÁFA in Hungary.
Short for Imposta sul Valore Aggiunto (Italy) or Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadido (Spain, Portugal). Italy's standard IVA is 22%, Spain's is 21%, and Portugal's is 23%. We cover both systems rate by rate in the IVA in Italy and IVA in Spain guides.
Short for Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutée. France's standard TVA is 20%, Belgium's is 21%, and Luxembourg's is the lowest in Europe at 17%. France actually invented VAT in 1954 — the full story and all four French rates are in the TVA in France guide.
Short for Mehrwertsteuer (or Umsatzsteuer, USt). Germany's standard MwSt is 19%; Austria's USt is 20%.
Short for Belasting over de Toegevoegde Waarde. The Dutch standard BTW rate is 21%.
Short for Mervärdesskatt (Sweden) or Merværdiafgift (Denmark). Both countries charge a standard rate of 25% — among the highest in Europe. The Sweden VAT rates guide breaks down what falls under 25%, 12% and 6%.
Short for Általános Forgalmi Adó. Hungary's standard ÁFA rate of 27% is the highest in Europe.
Yes. Unlike US sales tax, which is typically added at checkout, EU and UK consumer protection law requires that prices shown to consumers already include VAT. When you see a price on a shelf, menu, or e-commerce checkout page in Italy, Germany, France, or the UK, that is the final price — VAT is baked in, not added on top. Business-to-business quotes are the exception: B2B invoices commonly show the net (pre-VAT) price separately, with VAT itemized as a line item.
Prices already include it: by EU and UK law, prices shown to consumers must include VAT — the sticker price is the price you pay.
Nearly every country in the table applies at least one reduced rate to make essentials more affordable. Common examples in 2026 include:
Denmark is the notable exception: it applies a single flat 25% rate to almost everything, with essentially no reduced-rate category.
A net (pre-tax) price of €100 in Italy is subject to the 22% standard IVA rate:
🧮 €100 net purchase in Italy (22% IVA)
A net (pre-tax) price of £100 in the UK is subject to the 20% standard VAT rate:
🧮 £100 net purchase in the UK (20% VAT)
If you only have the VAT-inclusive total — a receipt, an invoice, or a checkout price — and need to find the original net price, divide by 1 + the rate instead of multiplying:
For example, a €122 total in Italy reverses to €122 ÷ 1.22 = €100 net, meaning €22 of that total was IVA. A £120 total in the UK reverses to £120 ÷ 1.20 = £100 net, meaning £20 was VAT.
🧮 €122 total price in Italy, reversed (22% IVA)
For the full method with more country examples, see How to Work Out VAT Backwards, or use the VAT Reverse Calculator to do it instantly for any rate.
If you sell digital goods or services — apps, e-books, streaming subscriptions, online courses, SaaS — to consumers across the EU, you generally don't need to register for VAT in every individual country. Once your total EU-wide sales to consumers exceed €10,000 per year, you must charge VAT at the rate of the buyer's country (not your own), but you can report and remit it all through a single One Stop Shop (OSS) registration in one EU member state. Below the €10,000 threshold, you may be able to charge your home country's rate instead — check current OSS rules before relying on this. The full mechanics of the threshold, OSS registration, and the IOSS import scheme are covered in the EU VAT OSS & IOSS guide. For B2B sales to VAT-registered businesses in other member states, the reverse charge applies instead and you invoice without VAT.
VAT rates are set through each country's national budget process and can change with little notice — Finland's standard rate moved from 24% to 25.5% in recent years, and governments regularly adjust reduced-rate categories. The figures on this page reflect confirmed 2026 rates, but for a high-value purchase, an invoice, or a cross-border sale, always confirm the current rate with the relevant country's tax authority before finalizing the transaction.
· Rate source metadata is tracked in the TaxesLedger tax data registry.
Quick answers to the most common questions users ask.
It depends on the country. Standard VAT rates in Europe for 2026 range from 17% in Luxembourg to 27% in Hungary. The UK's VAT rate is 20%. Most countries also apply lower 'reduced rates' — often between 4% and 14% — to essentials like food, books, and medicine.
Hungary has the highest standard VAT rate in Europe at 27%, with a reduced rate of 18% and a further reduced rate of 5% on items like basic foodstuffs and pharmaceuticals.
Luxembourg has the lowest standard VAT rate in Europe at 17%, with reduced rates of 14%, 8%, and 3%.
Italy's standard VAT (IVA) rate is 22%. Reduced rates of 10%, 5%, and 4% apply to items such as certain food, healthcare products, and books.
IVA stands for Imposta sul Valore Aggiunto in Italy and Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadido in Spain — both mean 'value-added tax' and are simply the local name for VAT. Italy's standard IVA rate is 22%; Spain's is 21%.
The UK's standard VAT rate is 20% in 2026. A reduced rate of 5% applies to items like domestic energy and children's car seats, and a 0% rate applies to most food, books, newspapers, and children's clothing.
TVA (Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutée) is the French name for VAT. France's standard TVA rate is 20%, with reduced rates of 10%, 5.5%, and 2.1% for goods like restaurant food, groceries, and press publications.
MwSt (Mehrwertsteuer, also called USt or Umsatzsteuer) is German for 'value-added tax.' Germany's standard MwSt rate is 19%, with a reduced rate of 7% on items like food, books, and public transport.
Yes. EU and UK consumer protection law requires that prices displayed to consumers already include VAT. The price you see on the shelf or online is what you pay — VAT is not added at checkout the way US sales tax is.
A reduced rate is a lower VAT percentage that a country applies to specific categories of goods and services it wants to make more affordable — commonly food, books, medicine, public transport, and household energy — instead of charging the full standard rate.
A zero-rated item is taxed at 0% VAT, meaning no VAT is charged to the consumer, but the seller can still reclaim VAT paid on related business costs. The UK zero-rates most food and children's clothing; Ireland zero-rates certain food, medicine, and children's items.
Yes, national governments can and do change VAT rates through their annual budgets. The figures on this page reflect confirmed 2026 rates, but always verify the current rate before a high-value purchase, invoice, or cross-border sale.
Yes. Businesses selling digital services (apps, e-books, streaming, SaaS) to EU consumers must charge VAT at the buyer's country rate once total EU-wide sales exceed €10,000 per year, typically managed through the EU's One Stop Shop (OSS) scheme.
Primary sources are linked directly. Rates and thresholds change on their own schedules — always confirm against the issuing authority before relying on a figure.
Apply any European rate, or work backwards from a gross total.
Keep reading — these cover the next step in the same chain.
All rates, thresholds, and regulatory guidance cited on this page are sourced from official government publications and non-partisan research institutions.
European Commission — VAT Guide
Comprehensive portal for VAT rates and rules across all 27 EU member states, including B2B/B2C regulations.
ec.europa.euOECD — Consumption Tax Database
Global comparative data on VAT/GST structures and consumption tax trends across OECD member nations.
oecd.orgTaxesLedger is an independent educational tool. We are not affiliated with any government agency. Rate records include source metadata and verification status; always confirm with your jurisdiction's official Department of Revenue before filing. Last registry update: September 11, 2026.
