Netherlands keeps 9% VAT on culture, media, sport and books, cancelling the 2026 increase (Stb. 2025, 339)

What changed in detail

The Wet behoud verlaagd btw-tarief op cultuur, media en sport (Wet van 29 oktober 2025) was published in the Staatsblad on 11 November 2025 as Stb. 2025, 339.

Article I replaces article XXI, part B, of the Belastingplan 2025. As enacted in Stb. 2024, 434, that provision deleted a series of items from Tabel I of the Wet op de omzetbelasting 1968 (the 9% list) from 1 January 2026, covering books and art objects, cultural services, cinema, sport, media and accommodation. As rewritten, it deletes only Tabel I, part b, item 11: the provision of accommodation (logies).

Article V brings the Act into force on 1 January 2026 and provides that article I applies before article XXI, part B, of the Belastingplan 2025. The rewrite therefore took hold before the original deletion could apply. The preamble states that the related transitional rules apply only to the provision of accommodation.

The planned increase to 21% for books, art objects, culture, media, sport and the other deleted items never took effect; those supplies stay at 9%. The Act also limits the 2026 indexation of certain income-tax and wage-tax amounts.

What it means

This is the current position and remains in force in November 2026: books, culture, media and sport are taxed at 9%. It supersedes the Belastingplan 2025 increase as first enacted, which should not be relied on for those supplies.

The one part of the 2024 plan that survived is accommodation, which has been at 21% since 1 January 2026 (accommodation record). Because the rewrite was published only seven weeks before the start date, anyone who updated rate tables for culture or sport in 2025 should check they were reverted.