VAT on food in Portugal in 2026 has three rates on the mainland: 6 % for bread, unfilled pasta, fresh or frozen meat and fish, milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, eggs, fruit, vegetables, olive oil and juices; 13 % for table wine, mineral water, sunflower oil and food served in bars and restaurants; and 23 % for coffee, chocolate, pastries, cured meats, shrimp, soft drinks and beer. In Madeira those rates become 4, 12 and 22 %, and in Azores, 4, 9 and 16 %.
Article 18 of the Código do IVA sets at 6 % what appears in list I, at 13 % what appears in list II and at 23 % everything else. Madeira and Azores apply the same lists with the percentages set by their regional assemblies. In 2026 there are no temporary reductions: the “zero VAT” on the basic basket ended on 4 January 2024. The general rates are in our guide to VAT in Portugal in 2026; here is the item-by-item breakdown.
What VAT applies to each food in Portugal
| Food or service | VAT | Código do IVA |
|---|---|---|
| Bread, cereals, rice, flours and pasta, except filled pasta | 6 % | list I, 1.1 |
| Fresh or frozen meat and offal; game, from 2026 | 6 % | list I, 1.2 |
| Fresh, frozen, dried or salted fish, including cod, except smoked fish | 6 % | list I, 1.3.1 |
| Mollusks, and preserves with more than 50 % fish or mollusk | 6 % | list I, 1.3.2 and 1.3.3 |
| Milk, cream, yogurts, cheeses, butter and margarine | 6 % | list I, 1.4 |
| Eggs | 6 % | list I, 1.4.6 |
| Plant-based drinks and yogurts | 6 % | list I, 1.4.9 |
| Olive oil | 6 % | list I, 1.5.1 |
| Fresh, dried or frozen vegetables, greens and legumes | 6 % | list I, 1.6 |
| Fresh or dried fruit; frozen chestnuts and berries | 6 % | list I, 1.6.4 |
| Honey, salt, juices and nectars | 6 % | list I, 1.8, 1.9 and 1.11 |
| Gluten-free products for celiac patients and infant food | 6 % | list I, 1.12 and 1.14 |
| Sunflower oil and other vegetable oils | 13 % | list II, 1.5.3 |
| Mineral, spring or sparkling water | 13 % | list II, 1.11 |
| Table wine | 13 % | list II, 1.10 |
| Prepared food for takeaway or delivery | 13 % | list II, 1.8 |
| Food and drink served in bars and restaurants, except alcohol and soft drinks | 13 % | list II, 3.1 |
| Cured ham, cured meats and meat preserves | 23 % | outside the lists (only fresh or frozen meat) |
| Shrimp, prawns, lobster and other crustaceans | 23 % | outside the lists (only fish and mollusks) |
| Smoked fish and caviar | 23 % | excluded from list I, 1.3.1 |
| Coffee, tea, chocolate and sugar | 23 % | outside the lists |
| Pastries, biscuits, ice cream, jams and vegetable preserves | 23 % | outside the lists |
| Soft drinks and waters with flavors or other substances | 23 % | outside the lists |
| Beer, spirits, port and sparkling wine | 23 % | outside “vinho comum” in list II, 1.10 |
Rates verified on 25 September 2026 against article 18 and lists I and II of the Código do IVA on the Portal das Finanças (text updated through Decreto-Lei 97/2026), the circular rulings 30181/2016, 25018/2024 and 25101/2026 of the Autoridade Tributária, Ofício Circulado 25045/2024 for Madeira and Azores and the European Commission’s TEDB database.
If you compare with the TEDB, keep in mind that for Portugal it is incomplete: it does not include bread, seed oils or game. The Código do IVA takes precedence.
Three questions to classify a food in Portugal:
- Is it in list I? Then it goes at 6 %.
- If not, is it in list II? Then it goes at 13 %.
- If it is in neither, it goes at 23 %. And if it is delivered in Madeira or Azores, the list is the same, but the rate changes.
Bars and restaurants: 13 %, except alcohol and soft drinks
Food and drink served go at 13 %, except alcoholic drinks and soft drinks, which pay 23 %. Water, juices and coffee served go at 13 %. This wording has been in force since 1 January 2024; until then, juices, nectars and sparkling water also went at 23 %, so check any POS system configured before then.
Table wine, which in a shop goes at 13 %, goes at 23 % when served at the table. And fixed-price menus are tricky: if a menu, buffet or event includes wine, beer or a soft drink for one overall price, the Autoridade Tributária applies 23 % to the full amount. To keep the food at 13 %, the drink must have its own price. In Spain, everything served goes at 10 %, alcohol included.
Takeaway or delivery food goes at 13 %, but only the freshly prepared dish: the drink and dessert keep their own rate. If they are sold together for one single price —a pizza with a soft drink—, everything goes at the highest rate.
The cases that raise the most doubts
Ham and cured meats: 23 %
List I only covers fresh or frozen meat. Cured ham, chorizo and meat preserves go at 23 %; only the smoked alheira, a Portuguese bread-and-meat sausage, drops to 13 %. In Spain, all of this goes at 10 %.
Fish and seafood: the species and preparation matter
Fresh, frozen, dried or salted fish goes at 6 %, including salted cod. Smoked fish and caviar go at 23 %, as do swordfish, sturgeon and salmon when dried, salted or preserved. Mollusks go at 6 %; crustaceans, at 23 %.
Preserves with more than 50 % fish or mollusk go at 6 %, and since 2024 so do tuna, mackerel and sardine pastes. With 50 % or less, mollusk preserves go at 13 % and fish preserves at 23 %.
Oils: olive oil at 6 %, sunflower oil at 13 %
Sunflower, corn or sesame oils and their blends have been at 13 % since 2024. The Autoridade Tributária warns that blends containing olive oil, such as olive and sunflower oil, do not fall under that 13 %: if you sell any, confirm the rate with a Portuguese adviser.
Drinks: from tap water to port
- Water: tap water, 6 %; mineral, spring or sparkling water, 13 %; water with flavors or other substances, 23 %.
- Juices and nectars: 6 %, as are plant-based drinks and milkshakes. Soft drinks, 23 %.
- Wine: table wine, 13 %. The Code does not define “vinho comum”; according to the TEDB, fortified or liqueur wines, such as port, and sparkling wines are excluded and go at 23 %. If you sell wines of that type, confirm the classification with a Portuguese adviser.
- Beer and spirits: 23 %.
Bread, pastries and preserves
Bread goes at 6 %. For the Autoridade Tributária it is the bread types in Portaria 52/2015, excluding breadcrumbs and fine bakery products; if you sell special or par-baked bread, confirm the rate with a Portuguese adviser. Pastries, biscuits, jams and vegetable preserves go at 23 %, and so does frozen fruit, except chestnuts and berries. Frozen vegetables, by contrast, remain at 6 %.
Baskets and assortments: everything at the highest rate
If the products in a bundle do not lose their individuality —olive oil, cheese and a bottle of port—, article 18.4 of the Código do IVA applies the highest rate to the whole set: that basket goes entirely at 23 %. Sometimes it pays to sell them separately.
Selling food from Spain to customers in Portugal
A Spanish store that ships food to private customers in Portugal applies Spanish VAT while its distance sales to consumers in other EU countries —added together— do not exceed €10,000 per year. Above that, it applies the Portuguese VAT corresponding to each food and reports it through the one-stop shop (OSS), as explained by the European Commission. We explain it in the €10,000 distance-sales threshold.
Madeira and Azores are within EU VAT —they are not the Canary Islands—, so an order to Funchal or Ponta Delgada is a distance sale to Portugal like any other. But the rate is determined by the delivery address: each product keeps its list and the percentage changes. The 6 % becomes 4 % in both regions; 13 % becomes 12 % in Madeira and 9 % in Azores, and 23 % becomes 22 % and 16 %.
And the same product does not belong to the same group in Spain and Portugal:
| Product | VAT in Spain | Continental Portugal | Madeira | Azores |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain bread | 4 % | 6 % | 4 % | 4 % |
| Unfilled pasta | 10 % | 6 % | 4 % | 4 % |
| Milk and cheeses | 4 % | 6 % | 4 % | 4 % |
| Fresh meat and butter | 10 % | 6 % | 4 % | 4 % |
| Olive oil | 4 % | 6 % | 4 % | 4 % |
| Sunflower oil and mineral water | 10 % | 13 % | 12 % | 9 % |
| Table wine | 21 % | 13 % | 12 % | 9 % |
| Cured ham and cured meats | 10 % | 23 % | 22 % | 16 % |
| Shrimp and prawns | 10 % | 23 % | 22 % | 16 % |
| Coffee, chocolate and biscuits | 10 % | 23 % | 22 % | 16 % |
| Beer | 21 % | 23 % | 22 % | 16 % |
| Food served in a restaurant, without alcohol or soft drinks | 10 % | 13 % | 12 % | 9 % |
Spanish rates verified on 17 September 2026 against article 91 of Law 37/1992 (boe.es) and the Tax Agency document “VAT rates in 2026”. Details in VAT on food in Spain.
Three more things before sending the first package:
- Wine and beer: they count as distance sales for VAT purposes, but excise duties on alcohol are handled separately; the one-stop shop only covers VAT.
- Business customers: if you sell to a restaurant or a Portuguese store with a valid VAT number and the goods leave Spain, the intra-EU supply is exempt and the customer self-assesses VAT in Portugal. Check the number first with the VIES VAT number checker.
- Packaged dishes: the 13 % for takeaway food applies to freshly made dishes. The Autoridade Tributária excludes supermarket cans and jars, so your packaged dishes take the rate of each product.
How to set it up in WooCommerce
Using the “standard, reduced and super-reduced” classes and one rate per country is not enough: pasta goes at 10 % in Spain and 6 % in Portugal, and ham at 10 % and 23 %. What works is creating custom classes for the food groups that change rate between countries and assigning them product by product. Portugal requires one more step: within each class, postcode-based rules for Madeira and Azores with their percentages. For a quick check, the EU VAT calculator gives you the rate and amount according to the customer’s country, whether they are a business or a private customer and the product type; for a specific food or a shipment to the islands, cross-check the result with the tables above.
Do you sell food to Portugal 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 foods have in Portugal in 2026?
On the mainland, 6 % for bread, unfilled pasta, fresh or frozen meat and fish, dairy products, eggs, fruit, vegetables, olive oil and juices; 13 % for table wine, mineral water and sunflower oil; and 23 % for coffee, chocolate, pastries, cured meats, crustaceans, soft drinks and beer.
How much VAT is paid in a restaurant in Portugal?
13 %, except alcoholic drinks and soft drinks, which go at 23 %. If a fixed-price menu includes any of those drinks, the whole menu goes at 23 %.
What VAT applies to wine in Portugal?
Table wine, 13 % when sold in a shop and 23 % when served in a bar or restaurant. Port and sparkling wines, 23 % always.
Is the zero VAT on food in Portugal still in force?
No. The exemption for the basic basket under Lei 17/2023 started on 18 April 2023 and was extended through 4 January 2024, inclusive. From the 5th, those foods returned to 6 %, except seed oils, which have been at 13 % since 2024.
What VAT applies to food in Madeira and Azores?
The same lists with different percentages: in Madeira, 4, 12 and 22 %; in Azores, 4, 9 and 16 %. Bread or milk go at 4 % in both regions. The 2026 regional budgets do not change those rates.
Has VAT on food in Portugal changed in 2025 or 2026?
The rates have not. The State budgets have expanded list I: in 2025 infant food and food for special medical purposes were added, and since 1 January 2026 fresh or frozen game meat goes at 6 %.
Continue here
- VAT in Portugal in 2026: the three rates and those of Madeira and Azores
- VAT on food in Spain in 2026: what goes at 4, 10 and 21 %
- VAT in Spain in 2026: the Spanish rates and the case of the Canary Islands
- VAT rates by EU country in 2026: the complete table
