The Dutch Tax Authority’s Knowledge Group on Excise & Consumption Tax has published a new position (KG:A:2025:01) regarding the taxability of non-alcoholic drinks in solid form or concentrate under the WVAD (Consumption Tax Act on Non-Alcoholic Beverages).

The case concerns products that, according to their presentation or packaging, are exclusively intended to be mixed with milk or milk-based products. However, before dilution, these products do not meet the WVAD’s minimum requirements for milk fat, protein, and sugar content.

Position
These concentrates do fall under the WVAD definition of ‘lemonade’ and are therefore taxable.
The assessment is made at the moment the taxable event occurs (release for consumption or import), not on the diluted product afterwards. It is irrelevant that the concentrate is intended to be mixed only with milk products.

Important detail
For concentrates, a conversion factor of 4 applies when calculating the taxable volume. Consequently, the threshold for milk fat is also multiplied by 4. This means that if the concentrate contains less than 0.08% milk fat (combined with protein and sugar), it qualifies as lemonade under the WVAD and is subject to consumption tax.

This position is in line with current case law.

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