Estonia is one of the most greedy countries in Europe in terms of taxation on catering. Prices in Estonian restaurants have reached the European level and are ahead of those in other countries. According to Killu Maidla, CEO of the Estonian Hotel and Restaurant Association (EHRL), foreign guests are already looking at checks from our restaurants, trying to understand why the bill is so high. Many are genuinely surprised when they see our VAT rate, notes Maidla. We already have a VAT of 22%, but for example in Germany it is 7%, in Turkey 8%, in Spain 10%, etc. “It’s not the entrepreneurs who are greedy, it’s our country,” Maidla says. Currently, VAT on catering is higher than in Estonia only in Denmark and Norway.
In most of Europe, catering has a lower VAT rate than the general one. First of all, they want to support the business sector, because catering requires a lot of labor and labor taxes are generally very high. “In few sectors is the ratio between labor costs and turnover as high as in the hotel and restaurant sector,” explains Maidla.
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2024-01-17 22:01:00
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