Portuguese vets renew push to slash IVA on pet healthcare

Portugal’s veterinary profession has renewed its campaign to reduce IVA on pet animal healthcare, this time calling for the tax to be cut from 23% to the minimum rate of 6%, and launching a parliamentary petition to force lawmakers to debate the issue.

The initiative, announced on Monday by the Ordem dos Médicos Veterinários (OMV), marks a significant escalation of an earlier campaign launched in May, when the association argued for a reduction to 13% as part of measures to ease the financial burden on pet owners during the cost-of-living crisis.

Now, the OMV says veterinary healthcare should be treated like other essential health services, arguing that the current 23% IVA rate is both unfair and detrimental to animal welfare, public health and family finances.

The campaign seeks to explain why lowering IVA would improve access to veterinary care, reduce pet abandonment linked to financial hardship and strengthen disease prevention, while a petition aims to gather enough signatures to compel parliament to consider the proposal.

OMV president Pedro Fabrica said the issue should be viewed through the “One Health” principle, which recognises the close links between human, animal and environmental health.

“About half of Portuguese families own companion animals, and veterinarians are often the first epidemiological sentinels to detect diseases, including those that can be transmitted to humans,” he told Lusa.

He described it as “fundamentally unjust” that veterinary healthcare remains subject to the standard IVA rate, noting that human dental care, for example, is not.

“In this public health approach based on ‘One Health’, these services are being taxed as though they were a luxury instead of a basic necessity,” he said.

According to the OMV, reducing IVA would make essential treatments more affordable, improve animal welfare, help prevent zoonotic diseases and ease financial pressure on the more than 4.5 million Portuguese who own pets.

The association estimates the measure would initially reduce tax revenue by around €20 million but argues that increased demand for treatments currently postponed because owners cannot afford them would offset much of that loss over time.

Fabrica said the campaign is intended to send “an unequivocal signal” to parliament that the issue has broad public backing.

The petition requires at least 4,000 signatures to be considered by parliament, with 10,000 signatures triggering a mandatory parliamentary debate. As we wrote this text, the petition has only mustered 19 signatures, therefore it is a perfect moment for pet owners to make their voices heard: https://participacao.parlamento.pt/initiatives/6487

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Natasha Donn

Journalist for the Portugal Resident.