Starting 1 March 2026, the Government of Belgium will increase the VAT on accommodation and specific products from 6% to 12%.
If your property operates in Belgium, this change affects how you price, invoice, and report revenue from these services.

From a VAT perspective, there are two key parts to this change:

• The general VAT increase from 6% to 12% on accommodation and certain related products.

• A transitional measure for existing reservations booked before the new VAT rate takes effect.

 

How the Belgian VAT change and transitional measure work

VAT rate change – key dates

• From 1 March 2026, the VAT rate on accommodation and specific related products in Belgium increases from 6% to 12%. Therefore, Mews updates accommodation rates to use 12% VAT.

• A transitional measure applies to certain existing reservations made by 28 February 2026.

• From 1 July 2026, the transitional measure no longer applies to payments and invoices. Affected items must use 12% VAT. Mews migrates night rates on open bills from 6% to 12% for stays from this date.

 

Belgian transitional measure for existing reservations

Belgium has introduced a transitional measure for bookings made by 28 February 2026 at the latest, i.e. before the entry into force of the new 12% VAT rate. The VAT rate is determined at the time the VAT becomes due. For example, the date of payment for balances or deposits or issuance of invoice.

• The 6% VAT rate can continue to apply, provided that VAT on these bookings becomes due, as a result of a payment or the issuance of an invoice, by 30 June 2026 at the latest.

• No migration is required in Mews for bookings made until 28 February 2026 for stays that are fully completed by 30 June 2026.

The same rules apply to city taxes and ancillary services, for example,

• ironing or laundry
• Wi‑Fi
• parking
• sauna
• movie rental
• pay TV, etc.

 

 

In this article you can learn about the following:

• How the Mews system handles the Belgium VAT change

• What you need to do to handle the VAT rate change

  • How to prepare for the VAT rate change

    • Before 1 March 2026

    • Between 1 March and 30 June 2026

    • On and after 1 July 2026

• How to handle the impact of the Belgium VAT rate change on your corporate bookings for gross vs net pricing

• The VAT rate change checklist for Belgian properties

• Transitional period FAQs

 

How the Mews system handles the Belgium VAT change

The Mews system handles part of the VAT rate change to reduce your manual work. Mews applies the change in two main stages:

1. 1 March 2026 – VAT on accommodation rates increases from 6% to 12%

   • From this date, accommodation rates in Mews uses 12% VAT for new bookings and repriced nights.

   • The change applies to accommodation only. Products, services, and other items linked to accommodation must be reviewed separately.

   • Bookings that fall under the Belgian transitional measure can still be handled at 6% where allowed. See the above Belgian transitional measure for existing reservations section of this help article for the detailed conditions.

2. 1 July 2026 – Migration of night rates on open bills

   • On 1 July 2026, Mews migrates all night rates on open bills from 6% to 12% for stays from this date.

   • This ensures that stays from 1 July 2026 onwards on open bills no longer use the old 6% VAT.

   • Closed bills, issued invoices, and deposits are not updated. If you need to correct tax on those, you must handle it manually according to your own tax guidance.

As the Belgian transitional measure no longer applies to payments and invoices from 1 July 2026 onwards, keeping relevant bills open allows the Mews migration to switch remaining eligible nights to 12% automatically.

 

What you need to do to handle VAT rate change

Check if you use gross or net pricing in your accounting configuration. In gross pricing, Mews maintains the total price and adjusts the VAT component. Learn how to verify this in your accounting configuration.

From 1 March 2026, you are responsible for updating:

• All additional services with 6% VAT related to accommodation that should move to 12% VAT. For example, additional accommodation‑like services.

• Products like day‑use rooms, early check‑in, late check‑out, and accommodation corrections that are not handled automatically by Mews.

 

How to prepare for the VAT rate change

The Mews team handles part of the VAT rate change on 1 March 2026 and 1 July 2026. You should prepare your configuration and pricing so that these changes work correctly for your property.

 

Before 1 March 2026

1. Check if your property uses gross or net pricing.
   Learn how to verify this in your accounting configuration.

2. Decide how you want to handle the VAT increase for your pricing model.

   1. If you use gross pricing:

      1. Option 1 – Keep the same gross price (you absorb the increase)
         No configuration changes are required in Mews. Guest‑facing prices remain the same, and your net revenue decreases because a larger share of the total price is VAT. 12% instead of 6%.

      2. Option 2 – Keep the same net amount (guest prices increase)
         Update your room rates for stays from 1 March 2026 so that the net amount remains the same when 12% VAT applies; the gross price increases accordingly.

   2. If you use net pricing:

      1. Option 1 – Keep the same net amount (guest prices increase)
         No configuration changes are required in Mews. Your net price remains the same, and the gross price increases automatically when the 12% VAT rate applies.

      2. Option 2 – Keep the same gross price (you absorb the increase)
         Reduce your net base amounts for stays from 1 March 2026 so that the gross price with 12% VAT matches the previous gross price with 6% VAT. This will reduce your net revenue.

3. Coordinate with your revenue management system or manually update your 2026 base rates to ensure they reflect the VAT increase.

4. Update the base prices of affected products with fixed prices, for example, day use, parking, packages that include accommodation elements. Learn how in our help article How to create a product in Mews Operations.

 

Between 1 March and 30 June 2026

Use this period to apply the Belgian transitional measure correctly and prepare for the end of the transition:

• For bookings made by 28 February 2026, you can continue to apply 6% VAT only if all VAT on those bookings becomes chargeable by 30 June 2026 at the latest.
  In practice, this usually means stays with check‑out by 30 June 2026 where all payments and the final invoice are issued by 30 June 2026, and there are no further charges or invoices after that date.

• If there is any payment, charge, or invoice on or after 1 July 2026, that part must be taxed at 12% VAT, even if:

  • the booking was made before 1 March 2026, or

  • part of the stay or earlier deposits were already taxed at 6%.

• Pay special attention to deposits, partial payments, and pro‑forma invoices:

  • Ensure the final invoice correctly reflects the split between 6% (amounts that became chargeable by 30 June 2026) and 12% (amounts that become chargeable on or after 1 July 2026), as required by the transitional rules.

  • Partial payments and deposits follow the VAT rate in effect when they become due. Amounts paid before 1 July 2026 can remain at 6%, while remaining balances paid on or after 1 July 2026 must use 12%, even for bookings made before 1 March 2026.

• For bookings paid via a virtual credit card (VCC), the same Belgian transitional VAT rules apply as for other bookings: what matters is when VAT becomes chargeable (payment or invoice date), not the payment method. In practice, VCC flows from OTAs or wholesalers can involve delayed charges or re‑authorizations, which may affect how the split between 6% and 12% VAT is applied in Mews.

  Note: Mews is currently finalising the detailed handling of VCC scenarios in the system, including which reservations will be migrated to 12% VAT on 1 July 2026 and which can remain at 6% VAT under the transitional rules. Mews will publish additional step‑by‑step guidance, including concrete VCC examples, closer to the effective date of the Belgian VAT change.

 

On and after 1 July 2026

1. Log in as an administrator in Mews Operations.

2. Verify that accommodation rates and nights on open bills for stays from 1 July 2026 use 12% VAT.

3. Check that accommodation‑related products and services, for example, late check‑out, day use, no‑shows, upgrades, have been updated to 12% VAT where required.

4. Review any open bills that still contain 6% VAT items for stays from 1 July 2026 onwards, and make manual corrections if needed according to your accounting and tax advice.

 

How to handle the impact of the Belgium VAT rate change on your corporate bookings for Gross vs Net pricing

If your rate agreement for corporate bookings is net pricing, and you update only the gross price in Mews Operations, the VAT rate change from 6% to 12% can reduce your net revenue.

To avoid this:

• Review corporate contracts that specify net prices.

• Where needed, re‑calculate net and gross prices so that the net amount remains aligned with your agreements after the VAT increase.

• Coordinate with your revenue management system or channel manager so that the same logic is applied across all channels.

 

Examples: Applying the Belgian VAT transitional measure

Use these examples to understand how the 6% → 12% VAT change and the Belgian transitional measure apply in practice.

 

Example 1: Stay in May, deposit and balance before 30 June

Guest booked a stay on 20 February 2026 for the stay 1–5 May 2026.
Guest paid a 30% deposit (advance payment) at the time of booking.

• 30% deposit: 6% VAT remains applicable.

• Remaining 70% paid at check‑out (before 30 June 2026): 6% VAT remains applicable.

 

Example 2: Stay in October, balance after 30 June

Guest booked a stay on 20 February 2026 for the stay 1–5 October 2026.
Guest paid a 30% deposit (advance payment) at the time of booking.

• 30% deposit: 6% VAT remains applicable.

• Remaining 70% paid at check‑out (after 30 June 2026): 12% VAT applies.

Example 3: Booking made after new rate applies

Guest booked a stay on 1 March 2026 for the stay 1–5 May 2026.

• 12% VAT applies to the stay.

 

Example 4: Invoice already issued at 6%

Guest booked a stay on 20 February 2026 for the stay 1–5 October 2026, and the invoice is already issued (B2B transactions).

• 6% VAT remains applicable on that invoice.

 

The VAT rate change checklist for Belgian properties

1. Keep relevant bills open to allow the Mews team to migrate VAT rates on 1 July 2026 for stays from that date.

2. From 1 March 2026:

   1. Adjust base prices for nights on bookable service to account for the VAT increase from 6% to 12%, especially if you use gross pricing. Note: This is explained in the Before 1 March 2026 above.

   2. Update VAT on accommodation‑related bookable service products, additional services and additional service products that are not updated automatically by Mews, but need to reflect the change. This means you may need to:

      1. Update the VAT they use, from 6% to 12%.

      2. Update the price they sell for. Note: This is explained in the Before 1 March 2026 above.

3. Between 1 March and 30 June 2026, apply the transitional measure correctly for eligible bookings (booked by 28 February 2026 and charged by 30 June 2026).

4. On and after 1 July 2026, review rates and open bills to confirm all affected items (stays from 1 July 2026) use 12% VAT where required.

 

Transitional period FAQs

A customer who booked in February (at 6%) for a stay in May has contacted my property to move up his reservation one week; does Mews keep the 6% VAT if I change the dates after March 1st?

No, Mews must create new Night transactions for the new dates with the current VAT applied to the rate (12%).

 

I made a reservation in January for April and made a mistake while selecting the rate. When I changed the rate in March, the nights were updated to the 12%VAT. Is that a Bug?

This is expected behaviour. Updating the rate on a reservation is one of the updates that triggers the system to recalculate the VAT applied on the nights.

 

I forgot to make a reservation in Mews in February for June. At the time this reservation should have been with 6% VAT and I do not want to create it with 12% VAT instead. Is there any way to still get a reservation with 6% VAT today?

Mews does not recommend keeping the 6% VAT rate for reservations you create after 1 March.

You can only apply the 6% VAT rate as a transitional measure if you can prove that the booking was made before 1 March.

For example, you can provide:

• A reservation confirmation email sent before 1 March
• A deposit payment received before 1 March

Note: If you absolutely need to make new reservations (that weren’t recorded in Mews), update nights or rates while keeping 6% VAT, the only solution is to create a new rate with 6% VAT.