IFA Position on 0% Vat for Vaccines Recognised by EU Commission

IFA Animal Health Chairman Pat Farrell has welcomed the announcement that the EU Commission has recognised the merits of the case put forward by IFA to reduce the VAT rate on vaccines by working on plans to allow Member States to reduce the rate of VAT to 0%.

He said that currently the VAT rate applied in Ireland is 23%. With farmers spending in the region of €40m annually on vaccines alone, this could result in savings of up to €10m for farmers.

Pat Farrell said “IFA has actively campaigned for this approach for a number of years in order to reduce the cost of vaccines for farmers; and to provide some of the tools necessary to reduce dependence on antibiotics on farms and help in promoting the ‘Prevention is better than Cure’ approach”.

Pat Farrell said farmers spend in excess of €135m annually on veterinary medicinal products and the clarification provided in relation to all veterinary medicines that the VAT rate can be reduced from the current 23% to 5% will significantly reduce this cost for farmers. The Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed must ensure this is applied at the earliest possible date, he said.