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Guide · VAT

VAT on flowers in Spain: 10 % or 21 %, and how a flower shop's receipt handles it

Updated 2026-10-06 · Priroda Tech, Vigo

Flowers in Spain carry the reduced VAT rate, 10 %, since 1 January 2015. But a flower shop does not sell only flowers: it sells vases, cards, dried flowers, chocolates, wine and delivery, and each carries its rate. This guide says which is which, with the law behind it, and how it is handled on the receipt without calculating anything by hand. For your own case, confirm it with your accountant.

What goes at 10 %

Article 91.One.1.8 of Act 37/1992 on VAT applies the reduced rate to "flowers, live ornamental plants, and seeds, bulbs, cuttings and other products of exclusively vegetable origin usable to obtain them". That is:

  • Fresh cut flowers, single or in a bouquet.
  • Live ornamental plants, potted or for planting.
  • Seeds, bulbs and cuttings.

A bouquet of fresh flowers is a supply of flowers: 10 %. The work of arranging it does not change the rate.

What goes at 21 %

Everything that is neither a live flower nor a live plant:

  • Dried, preserved and artificial flowers: not live plants, so the standard rate.
  • Vases, baskets, cards, ribbons, balloons: standard rate.
  • Wine and alcoholic drinks in a hamper: 21 %.

Chocolates and sweets are food and carry the food rate, 10 %. A hamper with flowers, wine and chocolates carries three lines with two rates.

Delivery charged with the bouquet

When the shop charges delivery together with the bouquet, the transport cost forms part of the taxable base of the supply (article 78 of the VAT Act), so it follows the rate of what is supplied: 10 % for a bouquet of fresh flowers. If the order mixes flowers and add-ons, your accountant will say how to split the delivery; the safe thing is for each product to go with its rate.

A bit of history, in case someone tells you "it used to be 21"

Royal Decree-law 20/2012 raised flowers and ornamental plants to the standard rate in September 2012. Act 36/2014, the budget act for 2015, returned them to 10 % from 1 January 2015. It has not changed since.

How the receipt handles it without calculating anything

The trick is for every catalogue item to have a product type, and every type its VAT. Roses are flowers (10 %); the vase, an add-on (21 %); the card, an add-on (21 %). When the order is put together, the software knows each line's rate, the receipt prints the bases and amounts by rate, and the quarter's tax report sums them. Nobody does a rule of three at the counter.

That is how Priroda handles it: every item carries its type, flowers, bouquets and plants at 10 % and add-ons at 21 %, the invoice is created from the order with the breakdown, and the tax report sums bases and VAT by rate for the accountant. More in Invoicing software for florists.

Frequently asked questions

Does a bouquet with a vase carry 10 % or 21 %?

Two lines: the bouquet at 10 % and the vase at 21 %. If the vase is a low-value accessory container, your accountant may treat it as part of the bouquet supply; the safe thing is to separate it.

Do flowers for a funeral carry a different rate?

Flowers are flowers: 10 %. Funeral services have their own treatment, but the wreath or bouquet the shop sells is a supply of flowers.

What about plants that are not ornamental?

The reduction is for live ornamental plants and the products to obtain them. For other cases (cooking herbs, for instance), ask your accountant.

Do I have to show VAT on the receipt?

The receipt (simplified invoice) has to state the rate applied or the words "VAT included"; the full invoice breaks down bases and amounts by rate. With VeriFactu it also carries a QR.

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