CJEU – Recent Developments in Value Added Tax 2021

S. 1561. Introduction

As an American commentator whose technical expertise regarding consumption taxes lies principally with issues arising under the US subnational retail sales tax (RST), I thought it would be appropriate to focus my comments on questions that arise under both the EU VAT and the US RST in the hope that they may contribute to our understanding of these questions by examining them in both contexts. In identifying an appropriate topic to consider, I had what in my view was an easy choice, namely, to pick up where Sebastian Pfeiffer left off in his illuminatng discussion of the ALTI case, where he notes that the case “strengthens Member States’ possibilities to make use of Art. 205 of the VAT Directive … especially taking into account platform liabilities, making platforms jointly and severally liable for VAT”.

2. Overview of Platform Issues Related to Taxable Persons

In today’s digital economy, the role of marketplace platforms is among the most important issues arising in connection with consumption taxes. Although I doubt that anyone would question the foregoing proposition, if one is looking for supporting authority, it can be found in the OECD’s publication, The Role of D...