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Participation in sport or physical education EU VAT case law

6 cases of the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union on this point of VAT law, from 2013 to 2020.

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Under each case, what the Court decided, from its summary. The summaries are AI-generated and are not official documents: open the case for the Court’s own text.

C-488/18 Golfclub Schloss Igling

Judgment · 10 December 2020 · Germany

Sports exemption, direct effect and the meaning of non-profit-making organisation

Article 132(1)(m) has no direct effect. The words "certain services" leave Member States a discretion as to which sport-related services to exempt, so an organisation cannot invoke the provision to exempt services which national law does not cover. Article 134(a) limits but does not remove that discretion. "Non-profit-making organisation" is nonetheless an autonomous EU concept. Assets must be permanently dedicated to the body's objects, and on dissolution surpluses exceeding members' paid-up capital shares and the market value of contributions in kind cannot be distributed to members. Sports clubs, gyms and associations cannot bypass a narrow national exemption list by relying on the Directive.

C-90/16 The English Bridge Union

Judgment · 26 October 2017 · United Kingdom

Meaning of sport in the exemption for services closely linked to sport

An activity such as duplicate bridge, characterised by a physical element that appears to be negligible, is not a "sport" for Article 132(1)(m). Neither benefit to physical and mental health nor competitive practice is sufficient without a not negligible physical element. The Court expressly left open whether such an activity may qualify as a "cultural service" under Article 132(1)(n), where its history and traditions give it a place in the social and cultural heritage of a Member State. Mind sports bodies, chess, bridge and similar organisers cannot exempt entry fees or subscriptions under the sport exemption.

C-633/15 London Borough of Ealing

Judgment · 13 July 2017 · United Kingdom

Sports exemption and the distortion of competition condition for public bodies

A Member State that taxed some, though not all, sporting supplies on 01-01-1989 may rely on the second paragraph of Article 133, and prior exemption of the supplies is not a precondition. However, the word "also" means the condition may be imposed on non-profit making public bodies only if it is imposed equally on other non-profit making organisations. National legislation excluding only public bodies from the exemption is therefore precluded. The third question was not answered. Local authorities and other public bodies running leisure centres, pools and gyms can challenge national rules that tax their admission charges while exempting identical supplies by non-profit clubs and trusts.

C-22/15 Commission v Netherlands

Judgment · 25 February 2016 · Netherlands

Dutch exemption for berths and boat storage went beyond the sporting exemption

The Court upholds both complaints. Exempting the hiring of berths and storage sites for boating or leisure activities that cannot be equated with the practice of sport or physical education goes beyond Article 132(1)(m), and confining the exemption in genuine sporting cases to associations without employees is an unauthorised restriction. The Netherlands was ordered to pay the costs. The judgment cuts both ways, and that is what makes it useful.

C-495/12 Bridport and West Dorset Golf Club

Judgment · 19 December 2013 · United Kingdom

Sports exemption and green fees charged to non-members

Access to the course is closely linked to sport and, if supplied by a non-profit-making body, is exempt whether the player is a member or not. Article 134(b) does not exclude green fees. "Additional income" cannot be read so as to restrict the exemption by reference to the recipient's membership status, a criterion deliberately omitted from Article 132(1)(m). Article 133(d) does not permit a general measure of that kind, since it cannot eliminate competitive differences flowing from the exemption itself. Non-profit sports clubs charging visitors for access, golf, tennis, squash and similar, cannot be taxed on those charges merely because the payer is not a member.

C-18/12 Žamberk

Judgment · 21 February 2013 · Czechia

Sports exemption for access to a municipal aquatic park

The Court answers both questions in the affirmative. The exemption is not confined to particular sports, levels of play, or organised or systematic participation, provided the activity is not engaged in purely for rest and amusement. Mixed-use access may be a single complex supply closely linked to sport where the predominant element, judged objectively from the typical consumer's viewpoint and from the park's design, is sporting rather than recreational. The intentions of individual visitors are irrelevant. Classification is for the national court. Relevant to municipalities, non-profit trusts and clubs operating leisure centres, lidos and mixed sport and leisure complexes, where a single all-inclusive ticket points to one composite supply.

Related topics

Exemptions · Direct effect · Supply of services