CJEU - Recent Developments in Value Added Tax 2016

1. S. 242Introduction

In this chapter, recent CJEU rulings on the determination of the taxable amount and on the applicable VAT rate(s), which were issued in the period between 1 November 2015 and 31 December 2016 are discussed.

2. Taxable Amount

In this contribution, the CJEU’s rulings in cases relating to the determination of the taxable amount are discussed. The discussion will be limited to judgments which were published between 1 November 2015 and 31 December 2016. Besides the CJEU judgment in Maya Marinova (see 2.1. below), it is interesting to see that two other judgments (Het Oudeland Beheer and Mateusiak), respectively 2.2. and 2.3. relate to the taxable amount in connection with optional supplies of goods (i.e. internal supplies on the basis of Art. 18(a) of the VAT Directive, and the retention of goods when economic activity ends on the basis of Art. 18(c) of the VAT Directive). The last case discussed in this section is the CJEU’s ruling in Stock ‘94 Szolgáltató Zrt. (section 2.4.), which in essence centres on whether interest payments form part of the taxable amount.

2.1. Case C‑576/15, Maya Marinova

This case concerns MM, a sole-trader business established in Bulgaria which sell...