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.
Learn more
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.
How to apply the reduced rate to your products
Create a new product or product variation for Summer 2026, with a new custom schedule applied. Read on to choose the option that suits you.
Watch the video below to see the process, from start to finish:
Option A: Create a new 'summer' product
This approach creates a separate product for the policy period and uses a schedule to limit 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 in the Content section.
Add a Summer 2026 tag (optional) in the Content section.
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. Save the product.
Now, go to Schedules and search for the product to create a schedule for (the new one you created).
Select Create schedule.
Name it (eg. Summer 2026) and set the frequency (eg. sessions start every 30 mins).
Under dates, select Custom dates, choose 25 June – 31 August 2026, and select Apply.
Select Save to save the schedule.
On the original product, go to Schedules, select the three dots next to the schedule, and select Exclude dates. Choose 25 June – 31 August 2026, and select apply. Confirm it is greyed out in the calendar view on the left.
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).
Learn more
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. Learn more about setting up products and schedules the in the Products, Resources and Schedules section.
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. This option also uses a schedule to limit availability to the summer window.
Open the product in Products > All products.
Add a new variation for each ticket type (for example, Adult – Summer 2026).
Go to Advanced settings (in the variation, not main product page). In the advanced settings, apply the UK Summer VAT 5% rate to the variation using Tax override setting.
Make sure Tax inclusive is selected so it includes tax in the selling price.
Save the variation.
Update the price for the variation if applicable.
Save the product.
Now, go to Schedules and search for the product to create a schedule for (the one you added a variation for).
Select Create schedule.
Name it (for example, Summer 2026) and set the frequency (eg. sessions start every 30 mins).
Under dates, select Custom dates, choose 25 June – 31 August 2026, and select Apply.
ROLLER will notify you that other schedules have overlapping dates. Select Exclude to automatically block these dates from your existing schedules.
Select Save to save the schedule.
To confirm the original variation dates are blocked on the product, head to Schedules and check the calendar on the left. You should see the new summer schedule highlighted in its colour, confirm it's covering 25th June through 31st August.
This option keeps only one product visible. Note that adding variations is permanent and cannot be deleted inside the product settings once a sale is made. If you already use variations, adding more may clutter your product setup. You can have a max of 20 variations per session pass.
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%