# Do I charge VAT on cakes in the UK?

> Mostly no. UK cakes are zero-rated, wedding cakes included, but catering, eating in and chocolate-covered biscuits are 20 percent. Registration starts above £90,000.

Usually not. HMRC's VAT Notice 701/14 says most traditional bakery products,
"such as bread, biscuits and cakes, are zero-rated", and it names "commemorative
cakes such as a wedding, anniversary or birthday cakes" in the zero-rated column.
A VAT-registered cake maker charges 0 percent VAT on a cake sold to take away or
delivered. The cake becomes standard-rated at 20 percent when it is supplied in
the course of catering, or eaten on your premises.

If you are not VAT registered, you charge no VAT on anything.

## When you have to register

You must register if either is true:

- your total taxable turnover for the last 12 months goes over **£90,000**
- you expect it to go over £90,000 in the next 30 days on its own

Zero-rated sales count. GOV.UK defines taxable turnover as everything you sell
that is not VAT exempt or out of scope, and lists zero-rated goods as part of
it, so a cake business reaches the threshold on its full takings even though it
would charge 0 percent on almost all of them.

Two options follow from that, and both are worth taking to an accountant with
your own figures:

- **Exemption from registration.** If most of what you sell is zero-rated, you
  can ask HMRC for permission not to register.
- **Voluntary registration.** Below £90,000 you can choose to register. A seller
  of mostly zero-rated cakes then charges little VAT but can reclaim VAT on the
  items it buys from its registration date.

## Zero-rated or 20 percent: the lines that matter for bakers

From VAT Notice 701/14, with the catering rules from VAT Notice 709/1:

| Product or situation | VAT rate |
|---|---|
| Celebration, birthday and wedding cakes | Zero-rated |
| Sponges, fruit cakes, meringues, cream gateaux, pastries, eclairs | Zero-rated |
| Flapjacks, millionaire's shortcake | Zero-rated |
| Biscuits with chocolate chips in or pressed into the dough | Zero-rated |
| Biscuits coated with icing or caramel | Zero-rated |
| Biscuits wholly or partly covered in chocolate | Standard (20%) |
| Gingerbread men decorated with chocolate (beyond a couple of dots for eyes) | Standard (20%) |
| Ice cream cakes and gateaux | Standard (20%) |
| Edible cake decorations, sugar flowers | Zero-rated |
| Inedible decorations sold on their own | Standard (20%) |
| Any food supplied in the course of catering | Standard (20%) |
| Food eaten on your premises | Standard (20%) |

Two things in that table catch decorated cookie makers. A plain iced cookie is
zero-rated, but a cookie dipped or drizzled in chocolate is a chocolate-covered
biscuit and is standard-rated. Price your chocolate-dipped range knowing 20
percent of a registered seller's price goes to HMRC.

## Wedding cakes, toppers and catering

A wedding cake on its own is zero-rated. Two details change that:

- **Catering.** VAT Notice 709/1 lists "third party supplies of catering for
  events and functions, such as wedding receptions" as catering, and anything
  supplied under a contract to cater for an event is standard-rated. If you are
  supplying the dessert service for a wedding rather than selling the couple a
  cake, expect 20 percent.
- **Toppers and keepsakes.** Inedible decorations sold with a cake, such as a
  bride and groom figure, are part of the cake and follow its zero rate. A
  decoration that is clearly a separate item, such as a toy meant to be kept and
  played with, is standard-rated on its own.

How a delivery charge is treated is covered in HMRC's VAT Notice 700/24.

## Keeping it straight in ibakepro

In ibakepro VAT is one of the tax types you can choose. You set the rate, with a
different rate by product category where one needs it, so a zero-rated cake
category and a standard-rated chocolate-dipped cookie category can sit side by
side, and ibakepro applies what you configured to prices, deposits and balances.
For the rest of a UK account, including pounds and the London data region, see
[bakery software for UK bakers](/bakery-software-uk), and for setting the
price itself, [pricing celebration cakes in the UK](/blog/pricing-celebration-cakes-uk).

This is general information drawn from HMRC's published notices, checked
October 2026. HMRC and your accountant are the final word on your products.