Hospitality trades temporary reduction in VAT has expired

The temporary reduced rate of 5% for hospitality, holiday accommodation and attractions that came into effect in July 2020 ended on 30 September 2021.

However, the government had previously decided that reverting to the standard rate would be too much for many businesses and had announced a further step before reverting the rate back to the standard rate.

This means that we now have a new reduced rate of 12.5% from 1 October 2021 that will be in effect until 31 March 2022 at which point it is expected that the rate will go back to the 20% standard rate.

Although many businesses had campaigned for the rate to remain at 5% at least there is still some temporary reduction to help the continuing recovery of the sector.

Affected businesses are advised to check that they have updated their billing and pricing software to provide for this change. There will also be increases in the VAT flat rate scheme percentages for catering services, hotel accommodation and pubs to accommodate this change.

If you need any help understanding how these changes will impact your VAT accounting, please get in touch.