A plasterer charges 9% VAT for plastering a home that has been in use for more than two years. That also applies to the preparation and to the materials you use for the plastering, such as gypsum, mortar, decorative plaster and spray plaster. So you charge one rate on labour and materials together.
Work that is too far removed from plastering stays at 21%. Think of fitting a plasterboard wall, putting tiles on walls and laying floors. Plastering in a new build, in a home of two years or younger and in a business building is also 21%.
In short
- Plastering a home older than two years is 9%, with the preparation, the beads, the plaster bases and the plaster materials.
- A plaster board used as a base for the plastering falls under 9%. Fitting a plasterboard wall is 21%, and for metal stud and suspended ceilings 21% is the most likely rate.
- If you do work at both rates, split it in the quote and show a separate amount for each rate on the invoice.
In this article
- Which VAT rate applies to plastering a home?
- Do the plaster materials also fall under 9%?
- Which preparatory work also falls under 9%?
- What is the difference between a plaster board and a plasterboard wall?
- Which work alongside plastering stays at 21%?
- When is plastering itself still 21%?
- How do you show 9% and 21% on the quote and the invoice?
- Why does the right rate matter for your price?
Which VAT rate applies to plastering a home?
9%, if the home is older than two years. The reduced rate applies to plastering homes more than two years after they were first taken into use. That is what item b 8 of table I says, the list of goods and services at the reduced rate (Decree on table I, Government Gazette 2025, 39463, item b 8).
The Belastingdienst puts it briefly: plastering homes older than 2 years falls under the 9% rate. This also covers the preparation, the pre-treatments and the materials used (Belastingdienst, VAT rate for plastering).
What counts as plastering? The decree lists repairing an existing coat of plaster and applying a new one. It means one or more coats of cement, gypsum, lime or synthetic plaster, by hand or by machine. Ready-mixed mortars, decorative plaster, marble plaster and spray plaster (spack) are included, as are mouldings and ornaments on walls and ceilings (Decree on table I, part 5.3).
You do not have to be a plastering firm. A contractor or handyman firm that does plastering may also charge 9%. And the client does not have to be a private individual. If a housing association orders plastering in homes, 9% also applies (Decree on table I, part 8).
Do the plaster materials also fall under 9%?
Yes. The decree says it in one sentence: the materials used in painting and plastering fall under the reduced rate (Decree on table I, part 6). So gypsum, mortar, decorative plaster, spack, primer, plaster beads and expanded metal lath go along at 9%, if you use them for plastering a home older than two years.
So do not put the materials on the invoice as a separate line at 21%. A separate line for materials is allowed, but at 9%. The rate follows the work you use the materials for.
Insulation works differently. There 9% only applies to the labour. The insulation material itself is 21%, even if you make it in your own business (Belastingdienst, VAT rate for insulating homes). That rule does not apply to your plaster materials. If you work on external wall insulation, both rules apply to you.
Do you only sell materials, without plastering with them yourself? Item b 8 covers the service of plastering a home (Decree on table I, Government Gazette 2025, 39463, item b 8). Selling plaster materials on their own is not covered and is then 21%.
Which preparatory work also falls under 9%?
All preparatory work that is directly linked to the plastering that follows. The decree lists hacking off a loose coat of plaster, and preparing the surface by priming, impregnating, roughening or cleaning. Setting plaster beads is also included (Decree on table I, part 5.2).
Fitting plaster bases also falls under 9%. A plaster base is a surface you apply the plaster to, for example in ceiling work. The decree lists expanded metal lath, wire mesh and plaster boards, which are special gypsum boards for the plasterer (Decree on table I, part 5.2).
Masking and covering with plastic and tape is also included. This preparation is usually not shown separately on the invoice, but is part of your price for the plastering (Decree on table I, part 5.2). If you do show it separately, it remains 9%.
Damp-proofing a cellar is not preparation for plastering. According to the decree, that work is mainly aimed at making the cellar watertight. It therefore does not fall under the reduced rate, even if the walls are plastered afterwards (Decree on table I, part 4.2).
What is the difference between a plaster board and a plasterboard wall?
The purpose of the board. If you fit a plaster board as a base so that you can finish the plastering, that is preparation and therefore 9% (Decree on table I, part 5.2). If you fit a plasterboard wall, that is work too far removed from plastering and 21% applies (Decree on table I, part 5.4).
With a plaster base you work on an existing ceiling or wall, so that a coat of plaster can go on it. With a plasterboard wall you create a new wall, for example to divide a room. An old ceiling that you cover with plaster boards and then plaster therefore falls under 9%. Fitting a new partition wall of plasterboard is 21%.
Whether the plastering you then put on that new wall falls under 9% is not spelled out in the decree. So put the wall and the plastering on separate lines, and if in doubt, check with the Belastingdienst.
Metal stud walls and suspended ceilings are not mentioned by the decree or the Belastingdienst. They are most like fitting plasterboard walls, and you do not work with plaster. That is why 21% is the most likely rate. This is an inference, not a rule stated in the source.
Describe on the quote what the board does: a base for plastering or a new wall. Then you can show later why you charged 9% or 21%.
Which work alongside plastering stays at 21%?
Work that is too far removed from the actual plastering. The decree gives three examples: fitting plasterboard walls, putting tiles on walls and laying floors (Decree on table I, part 5.4). The Belastingdienst lists the same three (Belastingdienst, VAT rate for plastering).
Tiling is 21%, even if you do it in the same bathroom as the plastering. The plastering on the wall is then 9% and the tiles on top are 21%. Laying a screed or another floor is also 21%. The source does not mention terrazzo separately, but that is also laying a floor, so 21% is the most likely rate.
When is plastering itself still 21%?
If it is not a home, or if the home is two years old or younger. Plastering in an office, shop or industrial unit is always 21%. For a building with a home and a business, such as a shop with a flat above, 9% only applies to the residential part (Belastingdienst, homes older than 2 years).
New build is 21%. The two years count from the moment the building was first taken into use as a home, and you look at the day on which you do the work (Decree on table I, part 3). If you plaster a new-build home before handover, that is 21%. If you come back three years after first occupation for a repair, it is 9%.
In doubt about the age? Look up the address in the BAG, the Land Registry's register of addresses and buildings. Or have the client confirm in writing that the home is older than two years (Belastingdienst, homes older than 2 years).
If a home was built in stages, at least half must consist of parts older than two years (Belastingdienst, homes older than 2 years). So with a major renovation, first check how much of the old building remains.
How do you show 9% and 21% on the quote and the invoice?
With a separate amount for each rate. If you supply goods or services at different VAT rates, you show the separate amounts and the rate that applies on the invoice (Belastingdienst, invoice requirements).
If your plastering is part of a larger construction contract, you may split it off from the rest for the rate. That split must be visible on the quote and on the invoice (Decree on table I, part 10). So make the split before you start.
If you agreed one price for work at two rates, you divide that price according to the usual prices of the parts. If that is not possible, or a division by your costs gives a fairer picture, that method is also allowed (Decree on table I, section 3.2.4).
If you work as a subcontractor, the rate remains 9% in the relationship with the main contractor (Decree on table I, part 9). For physical work on a building you reverse-charge the VAT to the contractor, unless you do the work mostly in your own workshop. The contractor then pays the VAT to the Belastingdienst (Belastingdienst, reverse charge for subcontracting). Even then you show the 9% part and the 21% part separately on the invoice.
Why does the right rate matter for your price?
Because a private customer does not get the VAT back. On € 2,000 of plastering excluding VAT, it makes a difference of € 240 whether the customer pays 9% or 21%. If you wrongly charge 21%, you are more expensive than necessary. If you wrongly charge 9%, you have to pay the difference to the Belastingdienst yourself later.
A lower rate does not always end up fully in the price. Researchers looked at monthly prices of around 70 product groups in 17 euro area countries, from 1999 to 2013. A change in the standard VAT rate was broadly passed through in full to consumer prices. For changes in reduced rates it was noticeably less (Benedek, De Mooij, Keen & Wingender, 2020).
That research was about consumer prices in general, not about plastering. It does show that businesses themselves decide how a rate feeds into their price. In the quote for a private customer, state the price including VAT, and show which part is 9% and which part 21%.
Sources
- State Secretary for Finance, Decree on VAT explaining table I (Besluit omzetbelasting toelichting tabel I), 22 December 2025, no. 2025-30110, Government Gazette 2025, 39463, items b 8 and b 19 and section 3.2.4. officielebekendmakingen.nl
- Belastingdienst, VAT rate for plastering, accessed 28 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
- Belastingdienst, VAT rate for insulating homes, accessed 28 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
- Belastingdienst, VAT rate for work on homes older than 2 years, accessed 28 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
- Belastingdienst, Invoice requirements, accessed 28 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
- Belastingdienst, Reverse charge for subcontracting and hiring out staff, accessed 28 October 2026. belastingdienst.nl
- Benedek, D., De Mooij, R.A., Keen, M. & Wingender, P. (2020). Varieties of VAT pass through. International Tax and Public Finance, 27(4), 890-930. doi.org