Invoicing

VAT on events: when 9% applies and when 21% does

Room hire, catering, admission and parking don't share a VAT rate. A practical overview for anyone drawing up quotes and invoices.

Team MiceBird28 August 20265 min read

The MiceBird bird holding a clipboard beside a signpost at an event site pointing to 9% and 21%

An event invoice rarely carries a single rate. Room hire, food, drink, admission and parking each follow their own rule, and the combination is where it goes wrong — usually only at year-end, when correcting costs more than getting it right would have.

This article is a practical overview, not tax advice. The Dutch rates below apply to events held in the Netherlands, and when in doubt your accountant is the one who looks at your specific situation.

The main rules

What you supply	Rate	Watch out for
Food	9%	Applies to the food itself, not the service around it
Alcoholic drinks	21%	Always the high rate, even as part of a dinner
Soft drinks, coffee, tea	9%	As a separate supply
Bare room hire	21%	Letting a space is a service
Admission to an event	9% or 21%	Depends on the type of event
Parking	21%	Even at an event with 9% admission

Where it goes wrong in practice

The all-in package. A €65-per-person meeting package covering the room, coffee, lunch and drinks contains at least three rates. Invoice it as one line at 21% and you remit too much. Invoice it at 9% and you'll get an assessment.

Drinks afterwards. At a dinner with 9% food and 21% drinks, the split between the two is what matters. Put them on the quote as separate lines and the invoice works out by itself — and the client also sees exactly what they're buying.

Admission. The low rate covers access to certain cultural and sporting events. A business conference or a private company party doesn't qualify.

Record it in your offering, not in your head

The practical fix is to stop deciding the rate per quote and set it once per product. Record the correct rate against every item in your offering — every room, every package, every drinks list. A quote assembled from those then totals up per rate on its own, and the invoice that follows is right without anyone checking it again.

Split a package in your offering into the components that carry their own rate. You can still show them on the quote as a single line at a single price — the client sees a package, your bookkeeping sees the correct rates.

It saves more than corrections. Mostly it saves the feeling of having to think through something you already worked out once, every time you invoice.

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