Belgium is considering turning restaurant VAT receipts into lottery tickets, giving diners a rather more exciting reason to ask for the bill
The Belgian State and National Lottery are developing a VAT receipt lottery aimed initially at the hospitality sector. Customers would receive a QR code on an official VAT receipt, scan it through an app and potentially win a cash prize.
The tax logic is simple. Encouraging customers to demand an official receipt makes it harder for restaurants to leave sales out of their declared turnover. In effect, Belgium would recruit diners into VAT enforcement, with the occasional cash prize for their trouble.
The scheme is expected to favour frequent smaller prizes rather than one large jackpot. Similar VAT receipt lotteries have already been used in countries including Italy, Portugal and Malta.
Belgium already requires qualifying restaurant and catering businesses with more than €25,000 of annual meal turnover to use registered cash registers and issue VAT receipts.
The lottery is still under development, with the detailed rules, prizes and technical arrangements to be agreed with the Belgian Federal Public Service Finance. A launch during 2027 has been suggested, although no firm date has yet been confirmed.
So, for Belgian diners, checking the VAT receipt may eventually be worth doing before checking the dessert menu.
See more in our Belgian VAT Guide.
