What VAT rate are taxed with the chocolate that we put in our shopping cars? It is with this seemingly simple question, but in a very complex practice that Dominique Schelcher, CEO of Cooperative U, wanted to illustrate the great bureaucratic complexity that governs commercial relations.
Previously considered a luxury product, the chocolate was applied to the normal VAT rate that today is 20%. But article 278-0 of the General Fiscal Code produces a list of basic needs of which chocolate is part. But be careful with chocolates.
But that’s not all. The chocolate formats that are the size of a bite (it is precisely less than 20 grams and 5 centimeters) benefit from the reduced speed, whether black, scrub, milk or white. But be careful, it is still necessary that, in this sweet, chocolate represents no less than 25% of the total weight of the product. Otherwise, return to the 20%rate.
What about the Spreads? Nutella lovers pay only 5.5% VAT. Therefore, it would be a product of basic necessity.
The case is complicated
But the case is complicated for certain products. What to do with a gift composed of different types of chocolate? An egg or Easter chicken, for example, with its black chocolate body, its white chocolate head, its eggs full of the size of a bite … The tax code is simple: the applied rate is 20%. Unless, of course, the seller wishes to ventilate VAT rates according to the proportion of each of the types of chocolate that make up his Easter group (is authorized).
What about chocolate products? This is random. The dessert creams? 20%. Chocolate breads are 5.5%. Unless you try it on the site, in which case we go to 10%. Its price remains the same, but the baker will have to pay more taxes.
Obviously, there are exceptions to these exceptions. This is the case of Orangetes, for example. These orange treats confithed with chocolate are considered sweet, therefore, subject to a reduced 5.5%rate. But some have more than 5 centimeters long and, therefore, they need two snacks to be swallowed. Logically, the normal rate must be applied. But the legislator did not want the accounting of chocolate manufacturers to be too complicated and the reduced rate is applied.
“We walk on our heads and we no longer know how to say it, we submit to Dominique Schelcher.
Source: BFM TV
