Apply the temporary UK VAT rate reduction to your products in summer 2026 – Help Center

From 25 June to 1 September 2026, the UK Government is temporarily reducing the VAT rate from 20% to 5% on certain family attraction admissions and children's meals. This guide explains how to set up your ROLLER products to apply the reduced rate during the policy window.

Note: Eligibility for the reduced rate depends on your business and the products you sell. ROLLER doesn't determine whether the reduced rate applies to you. We recommend reviewing the HMRC guidance and seeking independent tax advice before making changes.

What you need to know

The reduced rate applies based on the visit date, not the purchase date. This means:

A guest booking today (June 2026) for an August visit → 5% VAT applies
A guest booking in July for a September visit → 20% VAT applies

Tax rate changes in ROLLER are managed manually by your team. The steps below walk through how to set up a 5% VAT rate and apply it to the right products for the policy window only.

Add the 5% VAT tax rate to ROLLER

Before updating any products, you need to add the new tax rate to your venue settings.

In Venue Manager, go to Settings > Account > Tax & fees.
Select Unlock to make changes.
Select Add tax and enter 5% as the rate. Give it a clear name, such as UK Summer VAT 5%.
Select Save.

This does not change the tax applied to any existing products. Your default rate remains in place until you update individual products. For more detail on managing tax rates, see the guide Adjust tax and fees.

Apply the reduced rate to your admission products

There are two ways to do this. Choose the one that suits you.

Option A: Create a new 'summer' product (recommended for most venues)

This approach creates a separate product for the policy period and restricts availability to the summer window.

In Venue Manager, go to Products > All products.
Duplicate the product you want to apply the reduced rate to. To do this, next to the product select the menu (3 dots) and select Duplicate.
Rename the duplicate clearly. For example, add Summer 2026 to the product name.
Add a Summer 2026 tag in the product details (optional).
Scroll to Sales availability and enter 25 June – 1 September 2026.
Scroll to Additional options, select the Tax override checkbox, and use the drop-down to select the VAT rate you created in Step 1.
Update the product price to reflect the reduced VAT if you're passing savings on to guests.
On the original product, in Sales availability, block out 25 June – 1 September 2026 so the two products don't overlap.
Add the new duplicated product(s) to your POS and online checkout. You may also consider temporarily removing the original products from your sales channels (optional).

You can use product tags to categorise your Summer 2026 products. This makes it easier to find and archive them once the policy ends. Learn more about tags in the guide Create and organize product tags in Venue Manager.

Option B: Add a new variation to the existing product

Instead of creating a new product, you can add a ticket variation to your existing product with the 5% tax rate applied.

Open the product in Products > All products.
Add a new variation (for example, Adult – Summer 2026).
In the advanced settings, apply the UK Summer VAT 5% rate to the variation using Tax override.
Update the price for the variation if applicable.

This option keeps only one product visible online. Note that variations are permanent and cannot be deleted. If you already use variations, adding more may clutter your product setup.

Apply the reduced rate to children's meals (if applicable)

The reduced rate also covers certain children's meals. The approach is to create or update a stock item variation for Summer 2026.

If your venue pre-sells meal stock items:

Identify stock items classified as kids' meals.
Create a new stock item using the same details as the original.
Rename it to distinguish it from the original (for example, add Summer 2026).
Set the VAT for that stock item to 5%.
Add the new stock item to any relevant packages.
Add it to your POS.

If your venue does not pre-sell meal stock items:

Change the stock item tax to 5% on 25 June when the policy starts. Set a reminder to change it back to 20% on 1 September when the policy ends.

Refund guests who already booked at 20% VAT (optional)

If guests have already booked visits between 25 June – 1 September and paid at 20% VAT, you may choose to refund the difference.

This is not a mandatory requirement under the current guidance, but venues are expected to consider it proactively.

If you decide to process refunds:

Search for bookings with visit dates in the 25 June – 1 September window.
Swap the original product on each booking for the new reduced-rate version, making sure the date and time remain correct.
Refund the difference to the guest.

Note: If a session is at full capacity, adding the new product to a booking may trigger an overbooking warning. Only staff with the relevant permission can approve this. Once approved, remove the original product to restore normal capacity.

Refund transaction fees may apply. Check with your payment provider.

If you decide not to process refunds: No changes to existing bookings are required. Be aware that some guests may query why they paid a higher rate.

If you need help processing refunds at scale, contact our support team.

After 1 September 2026

Once the policy ends, the standard 20% VAT rate applies again. Make sure you:

Archive or remove the summer products or variations from your online checkout and POS.
Restore the original products / variations for all dates from 1 September onwards
If you updated stock item tax rates directly (no pre-sell), change them back to 20%