VATcodexEU VAT case law · Court of Justice and General Court

Article 26 Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC

Special scheme for travel agents

Title XIV · Special schemes

Open in the compendium38 cases ↓

Repealed. The Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC was repealed with effect from 1 January 2007 and replaced by Directive 2006/112/EC. Most case law before that date cites it.

In force today: Article 306 of Directive 2006/112/EC, according to the correlation table in Annex XII. The wording is not identical.

Text of Article 26

1.Member States shall apply value added tax to the operations of travel agents in accordance with the provisions of this Article, where the travel agents deal with customers in their own name and use the supplies and services of other taxable persons in the provision of travel facilities. This Article shall not apply to travel agents who are acting only as intermediaries and accounting for tax in accordance with Article 11 A (3) (c). In this Article travel agents include tour operators.

2.All transactions performed by the travel agent in respect of a journey shall be treated as a single service supplied by the travel agent to the traveller. It shall be taxable in the Member State in which the travel agent has established his business or has a fixed establishment from which the travel agent has provided the services. The taxable amount and the price exclusive of tax, within the meaning of Article 22 (3) (b), in respect of this service shall be the travel agent's margin, that is to say, the difference between the total amount to be paid by the traveller, exclusive of value added tax, and the actual cost to the travel agent of supplies and services provided by other taxable persons where these transactions are for the direct benefit of the traveller.

3.If transactions entrusted by the travel agent to other taxable persons are performed by such persons outside the Community, the travel agent's service shall be treated as an exempted intermediary activity under Article 15 (14). Where these transactions are performed both inside and outside the Community, only that part of the travel agent's service relating to transactions outside the Community may be exempted.

4.Tax charged to the travel agent by other taxable persons on the transactions described in paragraph 2 which are for the direct benefit of the traveller, shall not be eligible for deduction or refund in any Member State.

Consolidated version on EUR-Lex (CELEX 01977L0388-20060101). © European Union. Only the Official Journal is authentic.

Case law on Article 26: 38 cases

Judgments, orders and Advocate General opinions of the Court of Justice and the General Court that cite Article 26 of Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC, most recent first.

  1. C-565/24 P-GmbH & Co. KG (Coffee trips) Judgment · 10 September 2026 · Germany · cites Article 26(1), (2), (3), (4)
  2. T-221/25 TUI Belgium Judgment · 25 March 2026 · Belgium · cites Article 26(1), (3)
  3. C-763/23 Dragoram Tour Order · 25 June 2024 · Romania
  4. C-552/17 Alpenchalets Resorts Judgment · 19 December 2018 · Germany · cites Article 26(1)
  5. C-422/17 Skarpa Travel Opinion · 5 September 2018 · Poland
  6. C-599/12 Jetair and BTWE Travel4you Judgment · 13 March 2014 · cites Article 26(1), (3)
  7. C-300/12 Ibero Tours Judgment · 16 January 2014 · Germany · cites Article 26(1), (2), (3)
  8. C-189/11 Commission v Spain Judgment · 26 September 2013 · Spain · cites Article 26(1), (2), (3), (4)
  9. C-309/11 Commission v Finland Judgment · 26 September 2013 · Finland · cites Article 26(1), (2), (4)
  10. C-236/11 Commission v Italy Judgment · 26 September 2013 · Italy · cites Article 26(1), (2), (3), (4)
  11. C-269/11 Commission v Czech Republic Judgment · 26 September 2013 · Czechia · cites Article 26(1), (2), (3), (4)
  12. C-293/11 Commission v Greece Judgment · 26 September 2013 · Greece · cites Article 26(1), (2), (4)
  13. C-450/11 Commission v Portugal Judgment · 26 September 2013 · Portugal · cites Article 26(1), (2), (4)
  14. C-193/11 Commission v Poland Judgment · 26 September 2013 · Poland · cites Article 26(1), (2), (4)
  15. C-296/11 Commission v France Judgment · 26 September 2013 · France · cites Article 26(1), (2), (3), (4)
  16. C-557/11 Kozak Judgment · 25 October 2012 · Poland
  17. C-160/11 Bawaria Motors Opinion · 24 May 2012 · Poland
  18. C-220/11 Star Coaches Order · 1 March 2012 · Czechia
  19. C-69/11 Connoisseur Belgium Order · 9 December 2011 · Belgium
  20. C-464/10 Henfling and Others Judgment · 14 July 2011 · Belgium
  21. C-31/10 Minerva Kulturreisen Judgment · 9 December 2010 · Germany · cites Article 26(1)
  22. C-40/09 Astra Zeneca UK Opinion · 22 April 2010 · United Kingdom
  23. C-37/08 RCI Europe Judgment · 3 September 2009 · United Kingdom · cites Article 26(1), (2)
  24. C-166/05 Heger Opinion · 7 March 2006 · Austria
  25. C-280/04 Jyske Finans Judgment · 8 December 2005 · Denmark
  26. C-200/04 iSt Judgment · 13 October 2005 · Germany · cites Article 26(1), (2), (3), (4)
  27. C-291/03 MyTravel Judgment · 6 October 2005 · United Kingdom · cites Article 26(1), (2), (3), (4)
  28. C-321/02 Harbs Judgment · 15 July 2004 · Germany
  29. C-320/02 Stenholmen Judgment · 1 April 2004 · Sweden
  30. C-149/01 First Choice Holidays Judgment · 19 June 2003 · United Kingdom · cites Article 26(1), (2)
  31. C-136/97 Norbury Developments Judgment · 29 April 1999 · United Kingdom · cites Article 26(2), (3), (4)
  32. C-308/96 Madgett andBaldwin Judgment · 22 October 1998 · United Kingdom · cites Article 26(1), (2), (3), (4)
  33. C-260/95 DFDS Judgment · 20 February 1997 · United Kingdom · cites Article 26(1), (2)
  34. C-331/94 Commission v Greece Opinion · 28 March 1996 · Greece · cites Article 26(3)
  35. C-163/91 Van Ginkel Judgment · 12 November 1992 · Netherlands · cites Article 26(1), (2), (3), (4)
  36. C-74/91 Commission v Germany Judgment · 27 October 1992 · Germany · cites Article 26(3)
  37. C-131/91 'K' Line Air Service Europe Opinion · 24 June 1992 · Belgium
  38. C-165/88 ORO Amsterdam Beheer and Concerto Judgment · 5 December 1989 · Netherlands