Zeeland-West Brabant District Court has decided that the interval drink will not be included in the admission price for visiting the theatre.
In late 2023, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruled otherwise in a similar case. See our article Break drink nevertheless with 9% VAT.
Reduced VAT rate
The significance is obvious. The theatre ticket prints VAT at the reduced rate (9%). The provision of alcoholic beverages is subject to the standard VAT rate (21%).
The theatre charges one fee for admission to the show, use of the cloakroom, an intermission drink and administration fee. When booking, it is stated that the ticket price includes €3.75 for the cloakroom, intermission drink and administration fee.
One action?
The Court indicated that the main rule is that all supplies must be assessed independently for VAT purposes. A single supply exists if:
- acts are so connected that they objectively constitute one indivisible performance, the division of which would be artificial, or;
- one act constitutes the main performance, while the other acts as more ancillary performances share the fate of the main performance.
The theatre invokes the second exception. The court ruled that from the perspective of the average visitor, the interval drink constitutes a separate interest from the theatre performance.
Parking tickets
Recently, the Supreme Court ruled along similar lines on parking tickets, for which an amusement park charged a separate fee. Partly because there was a separate fee, the Supreme Court ruled that parking was not subject to the reduced VAT rate.
However, the mere fact that the intermission drink is included in the ticket price does not make it a single performance.
Alcoholic beverages
The question of whether alcoholic beverages can run with another supply for VAT purposes has been discussed before. We refer to our articles VAT rate on alcohol at lunches, Beer and wine not covered by reduced VAT rate and Beer during canal cruise: high fare.