Hospitality

Warning that numbers won’t add up for restaurants as higher Vat rate arrives

Hospitality Vat rate is scheduled to increase from 9 per cent to 13.5 per cent this week while restaurant sector vows to lobby to get it back down

Darren Madden, chairman of the Mayo branch of Irish Hotels Federation and owner of The Clew Bay Hotel in Westport, Co Mayo. Picture: Michael McLaughlin

A return to the higher hospitality Vat rate will result in a “doomsday scenario” for lots of small businesses in the food services sector, Adrian Cummins, chief executive at the Restaurants Association of Ireland, has warned.

The rate, which covers 20,000 businesses, is scheduled to increase from 9 per cent to 13.5 per cent this week. Cummins said the battle for the reinstitution of the 9 per cent rate would move to forthcoming budget negotiations.