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SwedenSkatteverket

Food sold in feed shops keeps the reduced 6% VAT rate

Food-grade goods keep the reduced VAT rate even when sold in feed shops and even with dual use as animal feed; what matters is whether the product is food.

By Taxxa AI OyPublished 18 September 2026

Tax

Industry: Across industries

A product intended to be eaten by people counts as food for VAT purposes even if it can also be used as animal feedSkatteverket, and it carries the reduced food rate wherever it is sold. Skatteverket added that clarification to its food guidance on 18 September 2026: the fact that the product is sold in a shop mainly selling animal feed is irrelevantSkatteverket (cf. Skatterättsnämnden dnr 16-26/I).

The ruling behind the clarification concerned rendered beef tallow from KRAV-certified, grass-fed cattle, sold in shops focused on bird feed. The tallow can be used in cooking and baking but also as an energy supplement for birds. It is produced in a food-approved facility, invoiced by the supplier at the reduced food rate, labelled and declared as food, and sold in the same packaging as in grocery stores without reprocessing or repackaging. Both Skatteverket and the Board held the reduced rate applicableSkatterattsnamnden.

The test is objective. What matters is whether the product is food under article 2 of the EU Food RegulationSkatteverket: any substance or product, whatever its degree of processing, intended or reasonably expected to be ingested by humans. The seller's identity and the line of business in which the product is supplied have no independent weight, provided the product meets the food criteriaSkatterattsnamnden. That a product has several uses — including as bird feed — does not exclude it from being food in the VAT senseSkatterattsnamnden, and nothing in the legislation or case law requires the product to be used exclusively or even mainly as human food by the average consumer.

The rate mechanics around the clarification are time-sensitive. From 1 April 2026 the rate is 6 per cent on supplies, intra-Union acquisitions and imports of food covered by article 2 of the Food RegulationSkatteverket; through 31 March 2026 the rate was 12 per centSkatteverket. The 6 per cent rate applies temporarily through 2027Skatteverket (prop. 2025/26:55, p. 8). It does not cover water covered by article 6 of the Drinking Water Directive, spirits, wine and strong beerSkatteverket (9 kap. 3 § ML) — though bottled water sold in retail containers does carry 6 per centSkatteverket. Assessment is made at each stage of sale: a product first intended for humans but later sold as animal feed carries 25 per cent at that later saleSkatteverket, while animal feed as such is never food because it is not for human consumptionSkatteverket.

Sellers of goods that can serve both as human food and as animal feed should therefore check the product's objective food characteristics rather than the shop's profile: a food-grade, food-labelled product sold as food takes the reduced rate even on the shelf of a shop mainly selling animal feedSkatteverket.

Legal basis: 9 kap. 19 § mervärdesskattelagen (2023:200), article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, article 98 of and point 1 of Annex III to the VAT Directive (2006/112/EG), CJEU C-331/19 (Staatssecretaris van Financiën), and Skatterättsnämnden dnr 16-26/I (decision 2 July 2026, not appealed).

Apply the reduced 6% food rate to food-grade goods sold as food even in a shop mainly selling animal feed, assessing food status at each stage of sale.

Sources