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Preparing for the UK’s temporary VAT reduction on children’s tickets and items

  • Updated

The UK Government has announced a temporary VAT reduction to support families over the summer holidays.

From 25 June to 1 September 2026 (inclusive), VAT will be reduced from 20% to 5% on certain children’s admissions, including cinema tickets, and on qualifying children’s food and drink items.

At the same time, free bus travel in August is expected to make it easier for families to get out and about. Alongside lower ticket and food and drink prices, this may lead to increased demand for family outings, including trips to the cinema.

This article explains what the change means for your cinema and how to prepare your Veezi setup.

What’s included

The reduced rate applies to:

  • Children’s cinema tickets, where these are clearly defined and marketed as children’s tickets.
  • Family tickets that include at least one child.
  • Children’s food and drink items, where these are clearly defined and marketed as children’s products (for example, a kids’ popcorn, drink, or combo).

For family tickets (for example, “2 adults + 2 children”), the entire ticket qualifies for the reduced rate.

What’s not included

  • General or standard admission tickets.
  • Standard cinema concessions, such as regular popcorn, drinks, and snacks. These remain at the standard VAT rate. The reduced rate only applies to items that are specifically defined and marketed for children.

Eligibility depends on how the ticket or item is set up and presented, not who uses it.

What this means for your setup

To apply the reduced rate correctly, you’ll need to:

  • Add a 5% VAT rate.
  • Apply it to:
    • Children’s and family ticket types, and
    • Any children’s food or drink items that you choose to define and market as children’s products.
  • Leave all other ticket types and standard concessions unchanged.

Before you start

Take a quick look at your current setup and identify:

  • Your children’s ticket types.
  • Any family ticket types (packages).
  • Any items you may want to define as children’s food or drink.

If needed, you can create or rename ticket types and items so they’re clearly defined and easy for customers to recognise.

Option: Introduce dedicated children’s products

You may want to create:

  • A children’s ticket type (for example, “Child” or “Kids Summer Ticket”).
  • Children’s concession items (for example, “Kids Popcorn” or “Kids Combo”).

This supports the requirement that tickets and items are clearly marketed for children and makes the offer easier for customers to understand.

Set up the reduced VAT rate in Veezi

1. Create a new tax rate

  1. In Veezi Back Office, go to Settings > Sales Tax.
  2. Click on a tax rate to edit, or add a new one.
  3. Enter:
    • Name: VAT 5% (Summer 2026).
    • Rate: 5%.
  4. Save your changes.

2. Apply the rate to children’s tickets

  1. Go to Tickets > Ticket Types.
  2. Open each children’s ticket type.
  3. Set the tax rate to the 5% VAT rate.
  4. Save your changes.

3. Apply the rate to children’s concession items (if applicable)

  1. Go to Food & items > Concessions.
  2. Open each children’s item (for example, a kids’ popcorn or combo).
  3. Set the tax rate to the 5% VAT rate.
  4. Save your changes.

Only apply this to items that are clearly defined and marketed as children’s products. You can use the search bar at the top of the page to search for “kids” or “children”.

4. Apply the rate to family tickets (packages)

In Veezi, family tickets are typically set up as packages, but tax is applied at the individual ticket level, not the package level.

Before updating your family packages, make sure all ticket types and any qualifying concession items are set up with the correct VAT rate.

a. Create reduced-VAT adult ticket types

  1. Go to Tickets > Ticket Types.
  2. Create new adult ticket types (for example, “Adult – Family VAT 5%”).
  3. Set the tax rate to the 5% VAT rate.
  4. Save your changes.

These should only be used within family packages.

b. Update the family package

  1. Go to your package configuration.
  2. Edit each family package.
  3. Replace standard ticket components with:
    • Your children’s ticket types (5% VAT), and
    • The new adult ticket types (5% VAT).
  4. Save your changes.

This ensures the full package is taxed at the reduced rate.

c. Review any included concessions

If your family package includes concessions:

  • Children’s items (for example, kids popcorn or combo) → can use 5% VAT.
  • Standard items → must remain at 20% VAT.

Because VAT is applied per item, a family package can include a mix of 5% and 20% VAT items where needed.

We’ll publish a separate article explaining how to revert these changes ahead of 1 September.

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