Food VAT in Italy in 2026 has four brackets: 4% for bread, pasta, fresh milk, butter, cheese, fruit, vegetables and olive oil; 5% for fresh truffles and some fresh aromatic herbs; 10% for meat, fish, eggs, yogurt, sugar, pastries and food served in bars and restaurants; and 22%, the standard rate, for anything not listed in any of those groups, such as wine, roasted coffee, beer or mineral water.
The lists are in tabella A of Presidential Decree 633/1972: part II is 4%, part II-bis is 5% and part III is 10% (article 16). That text applies until 31 December 2026; from 1 January 2027 it is replaced by the VAT testo unico (legislative decree 10/2026), which keeps the four rates and renumbers the lists. The general rates and the municipalities that are outside Italian VAT are in our VAT in Italy in 2026 guide; here is the item-by-item breakdown.
What VAT applies to each food in Italy
| Food or service | VAT | Tabella A (DPR 633/1972) |
|---|---|---|
| Bread and other ordinary bakery products, with no added sugar, honey, egg or cheese | 4% | part II, no. 15 |
| Pasta, crackers and crispbread | 4% | part II, no. 15 |
| Flours and semolina of wheat, corn and rye | 4% | part II, no. 10 |
| Fresh milk, not concentrated or sweetened, packaged for retail sale and pasteurized or treated according to health regulations | 4% | part II, no. 3 |
| Butter and cheese (burro, formaggi e latticini) | 4% | part II, no. 4 |
| Fresh, chilled, dried, cooked or frozen vegetables, except truffles | 4% | part II, nos. 5 and 6 |
| Dried legumes | 4% | part II, no. 7 |
| Fresh or dried fruit, and cooked or frozen fruit with no added sugar | 4% | part II, no. 8 |
| Olive oil and edible vegetable oils; margarine | 4% | part II, nos. 13 and 14 |
| Peeled tomatoes and tomato preserves | 4% | part II, no. 16 |
| Meals in company, school and welfare canteens | 4% | part II, no. 37 |
| Fresh basil, rosemary and sage; oregano on the stem or stripped | 5% | part II-bis, no. 1-bis |
| Fresh or chilled truffles | 5% | part II-bis, no. 1-quater |
| Fresh, frozen, salted, dried or smoked meat; sausages and meat preserves, except goose or duck liver and game preserves | 10% | part III, nos. 3 to 6, 55 and 56 |
| Fresh or frozen fish; crustaceans and mollusks except lobster, langoustine and oysters; fish preserves except caviar | 10% | part III, nos. 10-bis and 58 |
| Eggs | 10% | part III, no. 14 |
| Yogurt, kefir and fermented milks; preserved, concentrated or sweetened milk; cream | 10% | part III, nos. 11 to 13 |
| Honey and sugar | 10% | part III, nos. 16 and 59 |
| Candies and chocolate in ordinary packaging (paper, cardboard, plastic, tinplate, aluminum or ordinary glass) | 10% | part III, nos. 62 and 64 |
| Pastries, cakes and biscuits; puffed or toasted breakfast cereals | 10% | part III, nos. 67 and 68 |
| Vegetable preserves, jams and candied fruit | 10% | part III, nos. 69 to 74 |
| Tea, mate and spices; instant coffee and coffee extracts | 10% | part III, nos. 24, 25 and 76 |
| Sauces, soups and prepared broths; other food preparations, including food supplements of heading 2106 | 10% | part III, nos. 78 and 80 |
| Food and drink served in bars, restaurants, catering or vending machines | 10% | part III, no. 121 |
| Wine | 22% | not listed among the reduced-rate lists |
| Beer and mineral water | 22% | outside the reduced rates under art. 5.3 of Decree-Law 261/1990 |
| Roasted coffee, whole bean or ground | 22% | not listed (only extracts are) |
| Chocolate and candies in luxury packaging | 22% | outside part III, nos. 62 and 64 |
| Lobster, langoustine, oysters and caviar | 22% | excluded from part III, nos. 10-bis and 58 |
| Dog and cat food packaged for retail sale | 22% | excluded from part III, no. 91 |
Rates verified on 17 September 2026 against article 16 and tabella A of DPR 633/1972 in its current text, article 5.3 of Decree-Law 261/1990 and articles 34, 35 and 171 of legislative decree 10/2026, all on normattiva.it, and against the European Commission’s TEDB database. The Agenzia delle Entrate guide refers to those same lists.
On beer and mineral water, a source note: the 1990 decree-law removes them from the reduced rates, the TEDB says the standard rate applies, and the testo unico that will apply from 2027 says so explicitly in article 35.
Three questions to classify a food in Italy:
- Is it in part II of tabella A? Then it is 4%.
- If not, is it in part II-bis or part III? Then it is 5% or 10%.
- If it is in none of them, or the law expressly excludes it, it is 22%.
Bars and restaurants: 10%, including wine served
In Italy, food and drink served — somministrazioni di alimenti e bevande — are taxed at 10%, including when served through vending machines or under catering contracts. The rule does not distinguish what is served: wine at the table is 10%, even though the same bottle in a shop is 22%. Company canteens, school canteens and canteens for people in need are reduced to 4%.
What the customer buys to take away is the sale of a product with its own rate: a bottle of wine or a pack of beers is 22%, and pastries are 10%. If you run a business in Italy that mixes on-premises consumption and takeaway sales, check with an Italian adviser how to separate the lines on the receipt.
The cases that cause the most doubts
Bread: egg or sugar changes everything
The 4% rate is for bread and ordinary bakery products with no added sugar, honey, egg or cheese. As soon as one of those ingredients is added, it becomes fine bakery, pastry or biscuits, and goes to 10%.
Milk and yogurt: the opposite of Spain
Fresh milk is 4% only if it meets all the conditions: not concentrated or sweetened, packaged for retail sale, and pasteurized or treated according to health regulations. Preserved, concentrated or sweetened milk is 10%, as is yogurt and kefir. In Spain, by contrast, fermented milk has been 4% since December 2024.
Chocolate and candies: packaging matters
They are 10% only in ordinary packaging: paper, cardboard, plastic, tinplate, aluminum or ordinary glass. Gift boxes or luxury packaging remove them from the list and take them to 22%. Pastries, cakes and biscuits, by contrast, are 10% regardless of packaging.
Coffee and tea
Tea, mate and spices are 10%, and so are coffee extracts and essences, i.e. instant coffee. Roasted coffee, whole bean or ground, does not appear in any list and is 22%.
Luxury seafood and caviar
Crustaceans and mollusks are 10%, with three named exceptions: lobster, langoustine and oysters. Fish preserves are also 10%, except caviar and its substitutes. The exceptions are 22%.
Truffles: fresh at 5%, preserved at 10%
Fresh or chilled truffles are 5%. Frozen, dried or preserved in brine, and not prepared for immediate consumption, are 10%.
Olives in brine
Here the sources do not agree. The European Commission’s TEDB includes them at 4% together with tomato preserves, and also repeats them at 10% within prepared vegetables. The current 1972 decree text only places peeled tomatoes and tomato preserves at 4%. The testo unico that will apply from 2027 does expressly name «olive in salamoia» at 4%. If you sell olives to Italy in 2026, confirm the rate with an Italian adviser.
Pet food
Dog and cat food packaged for retail sale is expressly excluded from 10% and is taxed at 22%. In Spain, the same bag of pet food is 10%.
Selling food from Spain to customers in Italy
A Spanish shop that ships food to private customers in Italy applies Spanish VAT while its distance sales to consumers in other EU countries — in total — do not exceed €10,000 per year. Above that, it applies the Italian VAT rate that corresponds to each food item and reports it through the one-stop shop (OSS), as the European Commission explains. We cover this in the €10,000 distance-sales threshold.
The problem is that the same product does not belong to the same group in both countries:
| Product | VAT in Spain | VAT in Italy |
|---|---|---|
| Bread with no sugar, honey, egg or cheese | 4% | 4% |
| Unfilled pasta | 10% | 4% |
| Fresh milk | 4% | 4% |
| Butter | 10% | 4% |
| Cheese | 4% | 4% |
| Eggs | 4% | 10% |
| Olive oil | 4% | 4% |
| Sunflower oil | 10% | 4% |
| Meat and sausages | 10% | 10% |
| Chocolate in ordinary packaging | 10% | 10% (22% in luxury packaging) |
| Roasted coffee | 10% | 22% |
| Mineral water | 10% | 22% |
| Beer | 21% | 22% |
| Wine | 21% | 22% |
| Dog and cat food | 10% | 22% |
| Food served in a restaurant | 10% | 10% |
Spanish rates verified the same day against article 91 of Law 37/1992 (boe.es) and the Spanish Tax Agency document «Tipos impositivos en el IVA 2026».
Three more things before sending the first parcel:
- Wine and beer: they count as distance sales for VAT purposes, but the destination country’s excise duties on alcohol follow their own rules; the one-stop shop only covers VAT.
- Business customers: if you sell to a restaurant or shop in Italy with a valid VAT number and the goods leave Spain, the intra-Community supply is exempt and the customer self-assesses the VAT in Italy. Check the number first with the VIES VAT number checker.
- Livigno and Campione d’Italia: they are in Italy, but outside the VAT territory, as article 3 of Law 37/1992 also states. A shipment there is not reported through the one-stop shop; we explain it in the VAT in Italy guide.
How to set it up in WooCommerce
Using tax classes like “standard, reduced and super-reduced” and one rate per country is not enough: pasta, reduced in Spain, is super-reduced in Italy, and eggs are the other way around. What works is creating custom classes for the food groups that change rate between the countries you sell to, with the rate for each destination, and assigning them product by product. For a quick check, the EU VAT calculator tells you which rate and amount to apply based on the customer’s country, whether they are a business or a private customer, and the product type; for a specific food item, cross-check the result with the table in this article.
Do you sell food to Italy from your WooCommerce?
When destination VAT applies, EHERO Woo VAT applies each country’s rate according to the product tax class (standard, reduced or super-reduced) and respects the custom classes you create for foods that change rate between countries. It also monitors the €10,000 threshold, validates the VAT number in VIES during checkout and prepares the OSS report by country.
Frequently asked questions
What VAT do food products have in Italy in 2026?
It depends on the food: 4% for bread, pasta, fresh milk, butter, cheese, fruit, vegetables and olive oil; 5% for fresh truffles and some fresh aromatic herbs; 10% for meat, fish, eggs, yogurt, sugar and pastries; and 22% for wine, beer, mineral water and roasted coffee.
What VAT does pasta have in Italy?
4%: pasta is in part II of tabella A. Watch out for filled pasta: the European Commission’s TEDB classifies it at 10%, with food preparations, so if you sell ravioli or tortellini, confirm the rate.
What VAT does wine have in Italy?
22% when sold as a product, because it is not listed in any reduced-rate list. Served in a bar or restaurant, it is part of somministrazione and is taxed at 10%.
How much VAT is paid in a restaurant in Italy?
10%, drinks included. Company canteens, school canteens and canteens for people in need are 4%.
What VAT does beer have in Italy?
The standard 22% rate, just like mineral water. In Spain, beer is 21% and mineral water is 10%.
Does food VAT change in Italy in 2027?
The rates do not change: the testo unico applied from 1 January 2027 keeps 4%, 5%, 10% and 22%. The numbering changes: 5% moves to part III of its tabella A and 10% to part IV. And olives in brine are expressly listed at 4%.
Continue here
- VAT in Italy in 2026: the four rates and Livigno and Campione d’Italia
- VAT in Spain in 2026: the three Spanish rates and the case of the Canary Islands
- VAT rates by EU country in 2026: the full table
