Tax Plan 2026: reduced VAT rate for culture, media and sport retained

The harvest of VAT and transfer tax proposals is thin this year. The substantial Tax Plan 2026 package contains a single substantive VAT measure, and it is good news for culture, media and sport.

On Budget Day 2025 the caretaker Schoof government presented its tax proposals in the Tax Plan 2026 legislative package.

Note that these are proposals. Turning them into law requires the bills to be approved by both chambers of parliament.

The reduced rate for culture, media and sport is retained

A year ago, Tax Plan 2025 proposed abolishing the reduced VAT rate of 9% for accommodation (hotels, guesthouses, holiday homes), culture, media and sport with effect from 1 January 2026. The proposed abolition for culture, media and sport met with considerable public and political resistance.

During the debate on Tax Plan 2025 in the House of Representatives, an amended motion by Van Dijk and others was adopted unanimously. It required the State Secretary for Finance to look, in consultation with the House, for an alternative. In the 2025 Spring Memorandum the government said it would reverse the abolition for culture, media and sport, and the Tax Plan 2026 package contains a bill giving effect to that.

The reduced rate of 9% is therefore retained for culture, media and sport. The abolition of the reduced rate for accommodation from 1 January 2026 does go ahead.