Zero-rated, and why that is not the same as exempt
A great deal of what an Irish household buys carries no VAT at all: most food, children’s clothes and shoes, books, oral medicine. That is the zero rate, and it is a rate — which matters enormously to the business selling it, and is the distinction this page exists for.
Ireland zero-rates a wider range of everyday goods than most EU member states, and it is the single biggest reason Irish grocery and clothing prices are not directly comparable with prices elsewhere in the euro area. Most food, children’s clothing and footwear, books, newspapers and oral medicines carry no VAT at all.
Section 46(1)(b) of the Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010 charges tax at zero per cent on goods in the circumstances specified in named paragraphs of Schedule 2, and on goods or services of a kind specified in the other paragraphs of that Schedule. The wording matters: it charges tax. That is the whole distinction this page exists for, and the reason it is not the same as being outside VAT.
What is zero-rated
| Supply | At this rate | Came from |
|---|---|---|
| Exports | from the introduction of VAT | — |
| Intra-Community supplies of goods to VAT-registered persons in other EU Member States | from the introduction of VAT | — |
| Certain food and drink | from the introduction of VAT | — |
| Certain oral medicine, non-oral medicine, and sanitary products | from the introduction of VAT | — |
| Certain books, e-books and audiobooks | from the introduction of VAT | — |
| Certain newspapers and e-newspapers | from the introduction of VAT | — |
| Certain animal feeding stuffs, certain fertilisers, seeds and plants used to produce food | from the introduction of VAT | — |
| Supply and installation of solar panels on private dwellings and recognised schools | from the introduction of VAT | — |
| Clothing and footwear appropriate to children under 11 years of age | from the introduction of VAT | — |
| Supplies to VAT-registered persons authorised by Revenue under the zero-rating scheme for qualifying businesses | from the introduction of VAT | — |
The word doing the most work in that table is certain. Certain food and drink — not all of it: confectionery, soft drinks, ice cream and many snack products are standard-rated, which is why a supermarket receipt has VAT on some lines and not on others. Certain books — not all printed matter, and brochures and catalogues sit at the reduced rate while books sit here.
Clothing and footwear appropriate to children under 11 is defined by the size and character of the garment rather than by who buys it, which is why a small adult can buy a zero-rated coat and a large eleven-year-old cannot. This site does not attempt to state where the boundary falls; that is a question about a specific garment and Revenue publishes guidance on it.
Solar panels on private dwellings and recognised schools is the newest entry and the one most often missed by installers pricing a job, because the same installation on a commercial building is not zero-rated.
Zero-rated is not exempt
For the person paying, zero-rated and exempt look identical: no VAT on the bill. For the business selling, they are opposites.
A zero-rated supply is a taxable supply on which the rate happens to be zero. The seller is making taxable supplies, so the seller can reclaim the VAT on everything they bought in order to make them — rent, equipment, professional fees, stock. A bookshop charges no VAT and reclaims the VAT on its shelving.
An exempt supply is outside the charge. The seller is not making taxable supplies, so there is nothing to reclaim against, and the VAT on their costs is simply a cost. On a business with real input spending that is the difference between a repayment and a write-off — which is why the distinction has its own page.
There is no worked example on this page
Deliberately. The arithmetic at zero per cent is that the VAT is nothing and the gross equals the net, in both directions, and a table showing that would be filler. What is worth knowing is that the calculator on this site still runs at the zero rate rather than short-circuiting — the same code path, the same rounding, the same reconciliation — because a rate of zero is a rate, and the golden-master suite freezes it alongside the others precisely so that nobody optimises it into a special case later.
Where this comes from
Source: Value-Added Tax Consolidation Act 2010, s. 46(1)Part 6, Chapter 1, section 46 "Rates of tax" — paragraph (a) standard, (b) zero, (c) reduced, (ca)/(caa)/(cac) the 9 per cent arms, (d) livestock. Law Reform Commission REVISED text, updated to 1 January 2026.
Source: Revenue — Zero rate of VATThe list of goods and services at the zero rate.
The other rates: The 23% VAT rate, The 13.5% VAT rate, The 9% VAT rate, The 4.8% livestock VAT rate.