ECJ - Recent Developments in Value Added Tax

S. 13VAT – It’s a Wonderful Tax

Richard Lyal

A conference devoted to current case law in the field of value added tax is also an opportunity for stocktaking and for a critical look at the operation of the system. In addition to the examination of current trends and the often intricate detail of the case law on aspects such as the scope of the exemption for financial services or the efforts of tax advisers to create ex nihilo a right to recover input tax, it is useful to take a step back and reflect on long-term themes.

Over some 40 years the Court of Justice has amassed a rich and complex case law on VAT. An innocent observer might wonder why there is quite so much case law, quite so much litigation. She might ask why a tax which ought in principle to be one of the simplest imaginable is the source of immense confusion, expense and irritation. After all, surely there can be nothing so very complicated about VAT. At each sale of goods or services the seller calculates tax at a fixed rate and remits it to the State; at the same time, he deducts or recovers the tax (at that same fixed rate) that was charged on purchases by him of goods and services used for his business. For that, it hardly s...