Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago

PRESS RELEASE – CLARIFICATION OF BASIC FOOD ITEMS TO BE MADE VAT FREE

The Minister of Finance, Hon. Colm Imbert, MP, has taken note of comments made in the public domain about the announcement in the 2022 Budget Statement that the Government intends to make several basic foods VAT-free, or zero rated for VAT and in particular, commentary about which food items are currently subject to VAT and which are not.

In the 2022 Budget Statement, presented on Monday October 4th 2021, several items were identified by the Minister of Finance, by way of example, which would now be free of VAT (as of November 1st 2021), including biscuits, cooking oil, canned vegetables, cornflakes, canned fish, canned meat, curry, juice, sausages, ham, ketchup, bottled water and pigtail.