Paralyzed Amendment and VAT on Food Donations: Urgent Call for Action

To the amendment for the “elimination of VAT on food donations by private citizens” only had two days left to be processed in the Senate. However, with the calling of general elections and the consequent dissolution of the Cortes, this amendment was paralyzed and virtually canceled. As if that were not enough, not only has this amendment, which Congress approved by an absolute majority, been paralyzed, but also the Law for the Prevention of Food Loss and Waste.

Food banks in Spain, when they buy food for those most in need with cash donations from private donors and other institutions, pay around 3.5 million euros a year in VAT that could be used to buy even more foodaccording to data from the National Association of Solidarity Food (Andas).

From Andas they claim that it is It is necessary to reactivate “immediately” both the Law for the Prevention of Food Loss and Waste and the elimination of VAT on donations from individuals. “There is no possible excuse, the work of both the law and the VAT Amendment has been done and approved in Congress and, therefore, they can serve as a starting point, even if some small modifications or tweaks have to be made to improve it”, denounces the Solidarity Food Association.

It should be noted that in Law 7/2022 on Waste, approved in April 2022, an amendment was incorporated and approved that eliminated VAT on donations for altruistic purposes, but that it only applies to donations from large surfaces, and not to donations from individuals, which for Andas is “illogical and unfair discrimination.”

The National Association of Solidarity Food also wants to convey a message to the next Government and parliamentary groups: “It would be very important and desirable that acquire the commitment to carry out both the law and the amendment of the elimination of VAT on food donations and that, immediately after being constituted, they reactivate what has been canceled by the call for elections”. Above all, Andas places special emphasis on could apply in the next Great Collection 2023 of the food banks, which will take place next November.

In this way, it could help the nearly four million individual donors who participate in the large food collection campaigns and the more than 1,200,000 people who are served by the Food Banks and society in Spain.