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Place of supply EU VAT case law

53 cases of the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union on this point of VAT law, from 1993 to 2025.

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The 53 cases, most recent first

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-101/24 Xyrality

Judgment · 9 October 2025 · Germany

App store as deemed supplier of in-app purchases

Article 28 is not excluded solely because order confirmations, received only after the purchase is concluded, identify the developer and state its national VAT rate. What matters is the powers the intermediary enjoys in the supply. Article 9a of the Implementing Regulation, though inapplicable before 01-01-2015, clarifies the same concept. The fictitious supply to the platform is located under Article 44. Article 203 does not apply where the customers are non-taxable persons, so there is no deduction risk. Relevant to app developers, games studios, content providers and marketplace operators reviewing pre-2015 positions and any open assessments.

C-533/22 Adient

Judgment · 13 June 2024 · Romania

Fixed establishment through a group toll manufacturer

No fixed establishment arises solely from group membership or from a services contract between the two companies. For place of supply purposes the focus is on resources for receiving services, so a structure intervening in downstream supplies of the manufactured goods is irrelevant, as is where those goods are sold. There is no fixed establishment where the recipient's human and technical resources are not distinct from those used by the supplier, or where they perform only preparatory or auxiliary activities. Confirms and tightens Berlin Chemie and Cabot Plastics for toll manufacturing and contract processing structures, especially intra-group ones. Relevant to automotive and manufacturing groups and their advisers.

C-791/22 Hauptzollamt Braunschweig (Place where VAT is incurred III)

Judgment · 18 January 2024 · Germany

Place where import VAT is incurred on unlawfully introduced goods

Those provisions preclude such national legislation. The reference to customs legislation in the second subparagraph of Article 71(1) concerns only the chargeable event and chargeability, not the place of importation, which is governed by Article 60. There is no general link between the Directive and the Customs Code. Import VAT is incurred where the goods entered the EU economic network and were intended for consumption, here apparently Poland, subject to verification by the national court. Customs authorities cannot use customs place-of-debt fictions, including small-debt rules, to claim import VAT on goods smuggled in via another Member State. Relevant to excise and tobacco smuggling assessments, and to anyone facing dual customs and import VAT demands after irregular introduction.

C-532/22 Westside Unicat

Judgment · 23 November 2023 · Romania

Place of supply of content supplied to a streaming platform operator

Article 53 does not apply. That rule covers only services downstream of organising the presentation, namely marketing the right of admission to the event to customers, and ancillary services supplied separately to attendees. Creating and supplying the digital content to the platform operator is an input needed for that operator's own streaming, not the granting of access. Owning and operating the recording equipment does not make the studio the grantor of admission. The earlier Geelen case-law on the former Article 52(a) does not carry over. Second question not answered. Studios, production houses and content creators supplying filmed or live content to platform operators fall back on the general rules in Articles 44 and 45, so B2B supplies are taxed where the customer is established rather than where filming occurs. Relevant to adult entertainment, webcam and live streaming supply chains, and more broadly to any content producer invoicing a non-EU or other foreign platform.

C-232/22 Cabot Plastics Belgium

Judgment · 29 June 2023 · Belgium

Fixed establishment created by an exclusive toll manufacturer

No fixed establishment, absent a suitable structure in human and technical resources of the recipient's own. Exclusivity, group membership and long duration are relevant but not decisive. The provider remains responsible for its resources and bears its own risk, so they do not become the customer's. The same resources cannot both supply and receive the services. Services received must be distinguished from the principal's own onward sales. Ancillary services facilitating those sales are irrelevant. Confirms and extends Berlin Chemie to non-EU principals and to toll manufacturing structures. Relevant to chemicals, pharmaceuticals and contract manufacturing groups using a principal company outside the EU, and to tollers exposed as the party assessed.

C-641/21 Climate Corporation Emissions Trading

Judgment · 27 October 2022 · Austria

Place of supply of services cannot be shifted because of fraud

The authorities of the supplier's Member State may not relocate the place of supply on that ground. The place of supply rules delimit fiscal competence between Member States and cannot be set aside on fraud grounds. The Italmoda line, refusing a right such as exemption for an intra-Community supply, does not apply by analogy. Intra-Community supplies involve shared competence between two Member States, whereas for cross-border services only one Member State has competence. Member States remain free to act under Article 273, including inspections and penalties against those responsible. Relevant to anyone advising on cross-border B2B services caught in fraud chains, notably emission allowance, telecoms and other intangibles traders.

C-267/21 Uniqa Asigurări

Judgment · 1 August 2022 · Romania

Place of supply of claims settlement services for an insurer

Such claims settlement services do not fall within Article 56(1)(c). They are not services principally and habitually carried out by engineers, lawyers, accountants, consultants or consultancy bureaux, the decision-making power over compensation going beyond consultancy, nor are they "other similar services", since their purpose (handling and paying claims) matches none of those activities, nor data processing or the provision of information. Whether the various activities form a single supply remains for the national court. Confirms that for periods before the 2010 place of supply rules, cross-border claims handling bought in by insurers was taxable where the supplier was established, not under the intellectual services exception, so no reverse charge arose for the recipient insurer.

C-294/21 Navitours

Judgment · 1 August 2022 · Luxembourg

Taxation of passenger transport in a shared-sovereignty territory

Sightseeing cruises moving passengers over non-negligible distances are transport services, even if circular and touristic. The Directive 2006/123 case law on "services in the field of transport" does not transpose. The condominium is within the territory of both Member States, so each may tax. The Member State concerned must tax provided the other has not already done so. Taxation by one precludes taxation by the other, unless they agree another allocation avoiding double taxation and non-taxation. Confirms that no Member State may leave a shared or disputed border territory as a de facto VAT-free zone pending an intergovernmental agreement.

C-596/20 DuoDecad

Judgment · 16 June 2022 · Hungary

Identifying the recipient of technical support services and the limits of the Court's jurisdiction

The Court declined jurisdiction. WebMindLicenses (C-419/14) already provides the interpretative criteria for deciding whether a licence agreement is a wholly artificial arrangement. The referring court was in substance asking the Court to assess the facts and apply the law itself, which Article 267 TFEU does not permit. Double taxation of the same transaction in two Member States permits, and may oblige, a reference on interpretation, but not on the facts. The national court must also consider whether the support contract itself is abusive. A caution for advisers relying on divergent treatment between Member States as a route to Luxembourg.

C-333/20 Berlin Chemie A. Menarini

Judgment · 7 April 2022 · Romania

Whether a subsidiary supplying marketing services creates a fixed establishment of its parent

No fixed establishment arises merely because a company owns a subsidiary in another Member State which makes human and technical resources available to it under contracts for marketing, regulatory, advertising and representation services supplied exclusively to it, even if those services directly influence sales volumes. Ownership of resources is not required, but the parent must be able to dispose of them as if its own. Decisively, the same resources cannot both supply and receive the same services. Useful for groups using local service or support subsidiaries, notably pharmaceutical and consumer goods structures with promotional, regulatory and order taking functions.

C-931/19 Titanium

Judgment · 3 June 2021 · Austria

Let property without own staff is not a fixed establishment

A let property without staff of the owner's own is not a fixed establishment. A fixed establishment requires a sufficient degree of permanence and a structure adequate in human and technical resources to supply the services independently. A structure with no staff of its own cannot qualify. A property whose owner has no own staff for the letting is not a fixed establishment under Article 43, or Articles 44 and 45 as amended. Management tasks contracted out, with the owner retaining all important letting decisions, do not supply the missing human resource. Non-established landlords holding a single let property in another Member State cannot be treated as locally established merely by owning it, so supplies to business tenants fall to be handled by the recipient where the Member State applies Article 194 or Article 196. Relevant to real estate funds and offshore property holding vehicles, and to their tenants, for whom the question is whether reverse charge obligations were missed.

C-593/19 SK Telecom

Judgment · 15 April 2021 · Austria

Place of supply of roaming services and the use and enjoyment override

Such roaming is a distinct and independent supply, and by its very nature is effectively used and enjoyed in the Member State where the customer is temporarily present. The length of stay is irrelevant, and the mandatory rule in Article 59b does not narrow the general option. The Member State may therefore transfer the place of supply to itself, but only where doing so prevents double taxation, non-taxation or distortion of competition. Non-taxation is assessed within the EU, disregarding the third country's tax treatment (absent an international agreement). Confirms that Member States operating a use and enjoyment override may tax inbound roaming supplied by non-EU operators to non-EU subscribers visiting their territory. Relevant to telecoms operators, wholesale roaming arrangements and advisers handling Article 171 refund claims.

C-108/19 Krakvet sp. z o.o. sp.k

Order · 14 January 2021 · Romania

Distance selling where the customer picks a carrier suggested by the website

The Court holds that the goods must be regarded as transported by or on behalf of the supplier where the supplier role is predominant as regards both the initiative for the transport and the organisation of its essential stages. That is for the referring court to determine on all the relevant circumstances. The existence of a separate contract with the carrier is therefore not decisive. The order follows the judgment in KrakVet Marek Batko, delivered a month earlier on the same arrangement.

C-215/19 Veronsaajien oikeudenvalvontayksikkö (Computing centre services)

Judgment · 2 July 2020 · Finland

VAT treatment of colocation centre services

Such services are neither exempt letting nor services connected with immovable property, subject to verification by the national court. The supplier does not passively make space available with a right to occupy it as owner, and the customers cannot control or restrict access to the relevant part of the building, so there is no right of exclusive use. The cabinets themselves are not immovable property. They are not an integral part of the building and, being merely bolted down and removable, are not permanently installed. Data centre, hosting and colocation providers can normally treat these supplies as taxable under the general B2B rule in Article 44, accounting at the customer's place of establishment rather than registering where the servers sit. Relevant to telecoms and IT operators, and to advisers reviewing cross-border hosting contracts and access arrangements.

C-276/18 KrakVet Marek Batko

Judgment · 18 June 2020 · Hungary

Distance selling, when goods are transported "on behalf of the supplier"

Regulation 904/2010 provides only for exchange of information. It does not bind one authority to another's classification, so unilateral divergent treatment is permitted (with any overpaid VAT recoverable). Article 33 applies where the supplier's role is predominant in initiating and organising the essential stages of dispatch or transport, judged on economic reality rather than the contracts alone. That is for the national court. No abuse arises merely from the link with the carrier or the buyer's freedom to choose, where both companies genuinely trade independently. Relevant to e-commerce sellers and their advisers dealing with pre-2021 periods and to the reading of "indirect intervention" now in Article 33.

C-547/18 Dong Yang Electronics

Judgment · 7 May 2020 · Poland

Whether a subsidiary is a fixed establishment of its foreign parent

A supplier may not infer a fixed establishment from the mere existence of a subsidiary, and is not required to inquire into the contractual relationships between parent and subsidiary. Legal status is not decisive. A subsidiary can be a fixed establishment, but only where the substantive conditions in Article 11 are met, assessed against economic and commercial reality. The Free Trade Agreement reservation restricting Korean investors to Polish corporate forms does not affect that interpretation. Suppliers dealing with EU subsidiaries of third country groups can rely on the Article 22 sequence. Relevant to toll manufacturing and contract processing arrangements.

C-568/17 Geelen

Judgment · 8 May 2019 · Netherlands

Place of supply of live interactive webcam entertainment

The complex supply of organising and offering the sessions is an entertainment activity, its principal objective being entertainment. No physical presence of recipients, and no single location of receipt, is required. It is physically carried out where the supplier has established his business or the fixed establishment from which the services are supplied, here the Netherlands. The electronically supplied services rule did not apply because all recipients were in the supplier's own Member State, so the Court did not classify the supply. Confirms that the entertainment rule is not confined to events at an identifiable venue, and that for remotely delivered interactive content the organiser's own establishment can be the place of physical performance, even where the performers are in a third country.

C-647/17 Srf konsulterna

Judgment · 13 March 2019 · Sweden

Place of supply of admission to educational seminars

Article 53 covers such courses, so VAT is due where the seminars actually take place. Admission to a paid seminar necessarily includes attending and participating in it, so no distinction can be drawn between a right to enter a place and a right to participate. Advance registration and payment are irrelevant. Article 53 is not a narrowly construed exception, and the administrative burden recognised in recital 6 of Directive 2008/8 cannot displace the wording. Training providers, professional bodies and conference organisers holding multi-day B2B events abroad must register or account for VAT in the country where the event physically takes place, even where all delegates are established elsewhere.

C-628/16 Kreuzmayr

Judgment · 21 February 2018 · Austria

Ascribing the transport in a chain supply and deduction of wrongly invoiced VAT

The transport is ascribed to the second supply where the final purchaser obtained the right to dispose of the goods as owner before the transport began. Article 32 therefore applies to that second supply. The first supplier's misinformed classification and the intermediary's destination-State VAT number are irrelevant, because both the intermediary and the final purchaser knew the objective facts. VAT due only because it appears on an invoice is not deductible, and legitimate expectations cannot be invoked against a supplier. Recovery lies against the invoicing party under national law. Confirms that chain-transaction analysis rests on objective evidence known to the intermediary and final purchaser, not on the first supplier's treatment or the VAT number quoted. Relevant to commodity and fuel traders, distribution chains using collection numbers and ex works terms, and advisers reviewing invoicing positions in triangular sales.

C-453/15 A and B

Judgment · 8 December 2016 · Germany

Place of supply of greenhouse gas emission allowances as "similar rights"

Greenhouse gas emission allowances are among those similar rights. Although allowances are administrative authorisations to emit and not intellectual property, they are intangible, confer an exclusive right, are transferable to third parties for use in an economic activity and are registered under Article 19 of Directive 2003/87. Taxation at the customer's place of establishment matches the registry evidence and the place of consumption. The Court also confirmed that Article 56 is not a narrowly construed exception to Article 43. The specific rules are checked first.

C-419/14 WebMindLicenses

Judgment · 17 December 2015 · Hungary

Offshore licensing of website know-how and abuse of rights

Common ownership, the licensor's founder exercising influence over the know-how and its exploitation, use of subcontractors and the licensor's own motives are not decisive. Abuse requires proof of a wholly artificial arrangement, assessed by whether the licensee genuinely had premises, human and technical resources and acted in its own name, on its own behalf, at its own risk. VAT paid abroad does not bar adjustment. A cooperation request is required where useful or essential. Covert criminal evidence may be used only if lawfully obtained and used, proportionate, and disclosed with a hearing. Otherwise it must be disregarded. Confirms that rate arbitrage through an offshore licensee is not abusive per se. Relevant to digital, gaming and adult content operators using Madeira or similar structures, and to intellectual property licensing generally.

C-97/14 SMK

Judgment · 30 April 2015 · Hungary

Place of supply of contract work on goods and the requirement that the goods leave

Article 55 applies only if two cumulative conditions are met: the recipient is identified for VAT in another Member State, and the goods are dispatched or transported out of the Member State of physical performance. The dispatch condition must be assessed by reference to the facts of the processing transaction alone, before any other transaction concerning the goods. Where the goods moved only after a later sale, Article 55 does not apply and Article 52(c) governs. The recipient's dual identification was irrelevant. Relevant to toll manufacturers, contract assemblers and processing businesses, and to advisers reviewing periods before 01-01-2010 or open assessments.

C-605/12 Welmory

Judgment · 16 October 2014 · Poland

Fixed establishment of the recipient of services

The place where the recipient has established its business remains the primary point of reference. The fixed establishment rule is an exception. A fixed establishment exists only where there is a structure of sufficient permanence and suitable human and technical resources enabling it to receive the services and use them for its own business. That the two companies' activities form an economic whole benefiting consumers in the same Member State is immaterial. Verification is for the national court. Confirms that Article 44 case law under the Sixth Directive, and the Implementing Regulation definition, apply to recipient side fixed establishments. Relevant to digital platform, e-commerce and outsourcing structures where a local service provider's staff and equipment are used by a foreign principal.

C-446/13 Fonderie 2A

Judgment · 2 October 2014 · France

Place of supply where goods are finished in the customer's Member State before delivery

The place of supply is in the Member State where the customer is established. Dispatch to the subcontractor does not transfer the right to dispose of the goods as owner. It merely renders them compliant with the contract. Only the finished goods were the subject of the contract, and they were already in the customer's Member State when transport to the customer began, there being no sufficient temporal and material link or continuity with the initial movement. Manufacturers who send goods cross-border for finishing, painting, assembly or similar work before delivering to a customer in that same State make a domestic supply there, not an intra-Community supply. Relevant to industrial supply chains using toll processors, and to advisers reviewing refund claims refused on place of supply grounds.

C-323/12 E.ON Global Commodities

Judgment · 6 February 2014 · Romania

Effect of a retained tax representative on Eighth Directive refunds

A supplier of electricity to taxable dealers in another Member State may rely on the Eighth Directive there for a refund of input VAT, and that right is not excluded merely by having designated a tax representative identified for VAT purposes in that State. A representative is not an establishment, and identification alone does not show that taxable supplies were actually made there. The national court must still verify that no supplies with a place of supply in Romania were in fact made. The provisions have direct effect. Relevant to energy traders and any business that retained a legacy tax representative or a VAT number in a Member State after reverse charge rules removed the need for one.

C-155/12 RR Donnelley Global Turnkey Solutions Poland

Judgment · 27 June 2013 · Poland

Place of supply of complex warehousing services

Such a complex storage service falls within Article 47 only where storage is the principal service of a single transaction and the recipient is given a right to use all or part of expressly specified immovable property. Absent that, for example where customers have no right of access to the part of the warehouse holding their goods, or the property is not a central and essential element, Article 44 applies. Repackaging is a separate principal supply where not necessary for better storage. For warehousing and third-party logistics operators, and their customers abroad, the contract turns on whether a right of use over identified space is granted.

C-44/11 Deutsche Bank

Judgment · 19 July 2012 · Germany

VAT treatment of discretionary portfolio management

The two elements are indispensable, of equal footing and so closely linked that they form objectively a single economic supply which it would be artificial to split. Neither is ancillary. Because the supply must be assessed as a whole, and exemptions are construed strictly, it does not fall within Article 135(1)(f), and it is not management of a special investment fund under Article 135(1)(g) since the client retains ownership of individual securities. Article 56(1)(e) is nonetheless wider than Article 135(1)(a) to (g) and covers portfolio management as a financial transaction. Discretionary individual portfolio management is taxable in full.

C-218/10 ADV Allround

Judgment · 26 January 2012 · Germany

Supply of staff and self-employed contractors

"Supply of staff" includes the supply of self-employed persons not employed by the supplier. A single place of supply avoids both double taxation and non-taxation and spares the customer any enquiry into the legal relationship between supplier and the staff supplied. The deduction provisions do not require Member States to change procedural rules to secure consistent treatment across different authorities. They do require measures ensuring accurate collection of VAT and respect for fiscal neutrality, with systematic divergence potentially amounting to a breach. Confirms that staffing and agency businesses placing self-employed contractors, drivers, IT specialists, medical locums and similar, fall within the staff supply rule and so within customer-location taxation for cross-border B2B placements, without regard to employment status.

C-530/09 Inter-Mark Group

Judgment · 27 October 2011 · Poland

Place of supply of fair and exhibition stands

All three heads may apply, depending on the facts. Article 56(1)(b) where the stand is designed or used for advertising, that is to convey a message about the exhibitor's goods or services or as an inseparable part of a campaign. Article 52(a) where it is designed and provided for one specific themed fair, or matches a model prescribed by the organiser. Article 56(1)(g) where temporary provision of the material elements for payment is the determining element, notably stands reused at events in several Member States. Never Article 45: no direct connection with immovable property. Stand builders, exhibition contractors and event agencies must classify each engagement rather than apply one place-of-supply rule across the business.

C-270/09 MacDonald Resorts

Judgment · 16 December 2010 · United Kingdom

Timeshare points schemes, when the supply occurs and where

The supply must be classified at the moment the customer converts his rights into an actual service, not when the Points Rights are bought: the elements needed for tax to become chargeable are not then known, so the prepayment rule does not apply. On conversion into hotel accommodation or temporary use of a property, the supply is connected with immovable property and taxable where the hotel or property is situated. Conversion into a right to occupy is a letting, but Member States may exclude it from exemption. Operators of points based holiday clubs, timeshare exchange businesses and resort groups must account for VAT by reference to each redemption, at the location of the property or hotel used, rather than at establishment on sale of the points entitlement.

C-156/09 Verigen Transplantation Service International

Judgment · 18 November 2010 · Germany

Cartilage cell multiplication as the provision of medical care

The Court held that extraction of joint cartilage cells from material taken from a human being and their subsequent multiplication for reimplantation for therapeutic purposes is the provision of medical care under Article 13(A)(1)(c). The services form an essential, inherent and inseparable part of a process with an overall therapeutic purpose. That laboratory staff rather than qualified practitioners perform the work is irrelevant, as is the availability of a pharmaceutical alternative. The place of supply questions therefore did not need answering. Tissue engineering, cell culture and biobanking businesses supplying hospitals and clinicians cannot treat their laboratory step as a taxable service on movable tangible property merely because it is performed by technicians.

C-222/09 Kronospan Mielec

Judgment · 7 October 2010 · Poland

Contract research by engineers, services of engineers or scientific activity

Such research and development work is "services of engineers" under Article 9(2)(e). Article 9(2)(e) describes categories of service, not professions, and engineering habitually includes acquiring new knowledge and developing new procedures. An innovative, creative character does not make the supply scientific. Decisively, Article 9(2)(c) services are addressed to a plurality of recipients, whereas here there was a single commissioning customer. Onward sale of the results by that customer is irrelevant. Indirect inclusion of costs in the customer's prices is also irrelevant. Confirms that commissioned R&D, testing and emissions work for a single business customer is taxed where the customer is established, not where the laboratory or fieldwork sits.

C-37/08 RCI Europe

Judgment · 3 September 2009 · United Kingdom

Place of supply of timeshare exchange services

All three fee streams are consideration for a single service of facilitating exchange, and that service is sufficiently directly connected with immovable property. The place of supply is where the property over which the member concerned holds the timeshare right is situated, not where the operator is established. Where the operator buys in weeks from third parties to top up the pool, it receives nothing from those third parties and is not liable to VAT on that transaction. Timeshare exchange clubs and holiday ownership operators must localise membership, subscription and exchange fee income by reference to the location of each member's own timeshare property, not their own establishment.

C-566/07 Stadeco

Judgment · 18 June 2009 · Netherlands

Correcting VAT wrongly shown on an invoice

VAT mentioned on an invoice is payable in the Member State to which that VAT relates, even if the transaction is not taxable there. The referring court must identify that Member State from all relevant circumstances (rate shown, currency, language, content and context, places of establishment, conduct of the parties). Fiscal neutrality does not in principle preclude requiring a corrected invoice where the taxable person has not itself wholly and in good time eliminated the risk of revenue loss. National law may also refuse repayment causing unjust enrichment. Confirms that liability follows the VAT shown on the invoice, not the place of supply, so incorrectly domestic-style invoicing of cross-border services creates a real debt in the Member State whose VAT is stated.

C-1/08 Athesia Druck

Judgment · 19 February 2009 · Italy

Place of supply of advertising services and the role of the fiscal representative

In principle the place is the recipient's establishment, even where that recipient is only an intermediate customer and not the final advertiser. A Member State may however use Article 9(3)(b) to bring the supply onshore where the advertising messages are broadcast from its territory. That option covers only the supply made by the Community provider to the (final or intermediate) recipient, not the onward supplies made by the non-Community intermediary to its own clients. Appointing a fiscal representative is in itself irrelevant to taxability, and taxation does not bar a Thirteenth Directive refund. Relevant to media agencies and advertising intermediaries buying space in one Member State for non-EU principals, and to their fiscal representatives.

C-291/07 Kollektivavtalsstiftelsen TRR Trygghetsrådet

Judgment · 6 November 2008 · Sweden

Taxable person status of a mixed activity recipient of consultancy services

Such a recipient is a taxable person for the purposes of those provisions even where the consultancy is acquired solely for activities falling outside the scope of the Directives, because Article 9(2)(e) says nothing about the services having to be acquired for the recipient's economic activity. It follows that the recipient is liable for the VAT under Article 21(1)(b) (now Article 196), regardless of the use made of the services. Relevant to any mixed activity body established in the EU.

C-401/06 Commission v Germany

Judgment · 6 December 2007 · Germany

Place of supply of an executor's services

The Court dismissed the action. Article 9(1) has no precedence over Article 9(2), and the third indent of Article 9(2)(e) describes categories of services, not professions. However, an executor does not represent or defend a person's interests. He neutrally carries out crystallised wishes, and his work is predominantly economic (valuing, distributing, managing the estate), whereas a lawyer's services aim primarily at the success of a legal claim. Different purposes, so neither a lawyer's service nor similar to one. Confirms that executors' fees remain taxable where the executor is established, even for beneficiaries outside the EU or business customers elsewhere, and that lawyers acting as executors cannot assume their usual place of supply treatment follows.

C-166/05 Heger

Judgment · 7 September 2006 · Austria

Fishing permits as services connected with immovable property

Such a transfer is a supply of services connected with immovable property. Absent use of the Article 5(3) option, the transfer of fishing rights is a supply of services, not goods. A permanently delimited area of land, including one covered by water, is immovable property. Article 9(2)(a) is not a narrow exception to Article 9(1), but it requires a sufficiently direct connection. Here the specific stretch of water is a central and essential element of the supply and the place of consumption. Relevant to anyone selling rights of use over defined land or water.

C-114/05 Gillan Beach

Judgment · 9 March 2006 · France

Place of supply of inclusive services provided by fair and exhibition organisers

The Court held that such an inclusive service falls within the first indent of Article 9(2)(c). A fair or show is a "similar activity". It involves complex, various services provided generally to a number of different recipients, at a specific event and in an easily identifiable place. Organisers' services relating to such activities are covered. Having answered on that basis, the Court declined to consider whether the service could also fall within any other Article 9(2) category. Fair, exhibition and trade show organisers are taxable where the event physically takes place, regardless of establishment.

C-41/04 Levob Verzekeringen and OV Bank

Judgment · 27 October 2005 · Netherlands

Standard software plus customisation as a single supply of services

Elements so closely linked that they objectively form a whole transaction which it would be artificial to split are one single supply, and that is so here. The economic purpose was functional software customised to the customer's needs, and separate contractual prices are not decisive. The single supply is a supply of services where the customisation, judged by its extent, cost and duration, is neither minor nor ancillary but of decisive importance for use of the software. Such a service falls under Article 9(2)(e), third indent. The leading authority on artificial splitting, applied outside the insurance and catering contexts.

C-452/03 RAL (Channel Islands) and Others

Judgment · 12 May 2005 · United Kingdom

Place of supply of slot gaming machine services as entertainment

Enabling the public to use slot gaming machines for consideration in amusement arcades in a Member State is an entertainment or similar activity under the first indent of Article 9(2)(c), so the place of supply is where the machines are physically operated. Artistic input is not required, and the provision is not confined to supplies between taxable persons. Supplies to final consumers are covered. Having answered on that basis, the Court did not address fixed establishment or abuse of right. Operators of gaming and amusement machines, and their advisers, cannot relocate the place of supply by placing the operating company outside the Community.

C-8/03 BBL

Judgment · 21 October 2004 · Belgium

Taxable person status of open-ended investment companies and the place of supply

Such SICAVs are taxable persons. Assembling and managing portfolios of transferable securities on behalf of subscribers for a fee goes beyond the mere acquisition and sale of securities, which alone is not an economic activity, and aims to produce income on a continuing basis. Services falling within Article 9(2)(e) supplied to SICAVs established in another Member State are therefore supplied where the SICAV has established its business. Both consultancy and banking and financial services are covered, including services involving decision-making powers. The exemption question fell away. Suppliers of advisory, information and financial services to cross-border funds can rely on the customer-location rule regardless of how the fund's own Member State treats it. Relevant to banks, asset managers and fund administrators supplying UCITS-type vehicles, and to any adviser facing assessments premised on the customer's non-taxable status abroad.

C-68/03 Lipjes

Judgment · 27 May 2004 · Netherlands

Place of supply of intermediary services where the underlying transaction is between private individuals

Article 28b(E)(3) is not limited to intermediary services supplied to taxable persons or non-taxable legal persons. Its wording draws no distinction and it is irrelevant whether the underlying transaction is itself taxable, since the provision only fixes a place of supply. The second subparagraph, dealing with customers identified by a VAT number, is a specific exception that does not narrow the general rule. The place of the underlying transaction is determined under Article 28b(A) and (B), not Article 8. Confirms that Article 9(1) has no priority over the intra-Community place of supply rules.

C-438/01 Design Concept

Judgment · 5 June 2003 · Luxembourg

Place of supply of advertising services in a chain

Article 9(2)(e) applies to advertising services supplied indirectly and invoiced to an intermediate customer who reinvoices the advertiser. Each supply is assessed separately. The place of the first supply depends solely on where supplier and recipient are established, so the rule applies where the intermediate customer is a taxable person established in another Member State. Whether the advertiser is taxable, or can include the cost in the price of onward supplies, is irrelevant. Classification of the services as advertising was assumed, and remains for the national court. Confirms that place of supply is determined transaction by transaction, without looking through to the ultimate recipient or its status. Relevant to advertising, exhibition and event agencies, and their suppliers, working in chains where the final advertiser is a public body or otherwise makes no taxable supplies.

C-429/97 Commission v France

Judgment · 25 January 2001 · France

Place of supply of composite waste disposal services and refunds to non-established taxable persons

The Court declared an infringement. A composite waste disposal supply cannot fall within the fourth indent of Article 9(2)(c), regardless of whether the actual disposal is work on movable tangible property, because that connecting factor would create uncertainty over the applicable rate and conflicts of jurisdiction. Article 9(1) applies, so the supply is made where the main contractor is established, and Eighth Directive refunds are due. The declaration is confined to waste disposal services. The wider claim was dismissed for want of pleaded facts. Confirms that subcontracting part of a bundled service to a local operator does not itself give the main contractor a taxable supply in that Member State, so the Eighth Directive (now Thirteenth/refund) conditions remain satisfied.

C-116/96 Reisebüro Binder

Judgment · 6 November 1997 · Germany

Apportioning the consideration for cross-frontier passenger transport

Article 9(2)(b) requires that, where cross-frontier passenger transport is supplied for an all-inclusive price, the total consideration be allocated between the Member States concerned pro rata to the distances covered in each. The place of supply rule does not itself govern the taxable amount, which remains subject to Article 11A(1)(a), but it dictates the allocation where a single all-inclusive amount must be split. Stopping and waiting times are not a permissible allocation factor. Coach and cross-border passenger transport operators selling all-inclusive tours cannot allocate turnover by reference to time spent, vehicle operating hours or cost incidence in each State.

C-145/96 von Hoffmann

Judgment · 16 September 1997 · Germany

Place of supply of arbitrators' services

The third indent of Article 9(2)(e) does not extend to the services of an arbitrator. The provision identifies categories of service, not professions, so the test is whether arbitration is among the services principally and habitually provided in those professions. A lawyer principally represents or defends a person's interests. An arbitrator settles a dispute between parties. Nor are the services similar because similarity requires the same purpose, and a lawyer negotiating a settlement acts on expediency and the weighing of interests, whereas an arbitrator decides on justice or equity. Arbitrators' fees stay taxable where the arbitrator is established, not where the party or institution is.

C-167/95 Linthorst and Others

Judgment · 6 March 1997 · Netherlands

Place of supply of veterinary services

The services principally and habitually carried out by a veterinary surgeon fall under Article 9(1), so they are supplied where the supplier has his business or fixed establishment. Valuation means examining a good to estimate value or damage. Work means purely physical, non-scientific action, and the Article 9(2)(e) list covers only certain liberal professions, veterinary services being mentioned elsewhere in the Directive. Occasional valuation, physical or advisory elements do not change the characteristic activity. Veterinary practices treating animals for customers in other Member States charge VAT where they are established, not where the animals are, at least on the facts of the Sixth Directive rules then in force. Relevant to advisers classifying professional and scientific services under place of supply rules.

C-327/94 Dudda

Judgment · 26 September 1996 · Germany

Place of supply of services ancillary to artistic and entertainment events

Article 9(1) does not take precedence over Article 9(2): one asks first whether Article 9(2) applies. Any service which, though not itself artistic or entertainment activity, is a prerequisite for its performance is an ancillary service, judged objectively and irrespective of who supplies it. Sound-engineering therefore falls within the first indent of Article 9(2)(c) and is taxed where physically carried out. Coordination with visual effects produced by others makes no difference, since the same provision covers it. Avoidance risk cannot alter this. Establishes that Article 9(2) is not a narrow derogation to be read down in favour of the supplier's establishment, and that "ancillary" is content-based, not person-based. Relevant to touring and live events supply chains operating cross-border, and to the question of where such contractors register and account.

C-331/94 Commission v Greece

Judgment · 23 May 1996 · Greece

VAT on domestic legs of sea round trips

The Court declared the infringement established. Article 9(2)(b) requires each Member State to tax transport services for the parts of the journey in its territory, including territorial waters, and exemption is possible only under an available derogation. Administrative difficulty in fixing the taxable amount, the small amounts at stake, the absence of definitive passenger transport rules, and exemptions unlawfully applied by other Member States or enjoyed by non-Community operators are all irrelevant. International voyages and round trips from third countries are objectively different. Confirms that passenger transport must be taxed on the territorial portion, territorial waters included, unless a specific derogation applies, and that cruise and excursion operators cannot shelter behind competitors' untaxed positions.

C-68/92 Commission v France

Judgment · 17 November 1993 · France

Scope of "advertising services" for place of supply purposes

"Advertising services" is a Community concept requiring uniform interpretation. It covers any activity involving the dissemination of a message informing the public of the existence and qualities of a product or service with a view to increasing sales, whatever the means used, and also any activity forming an inseparable part of an advertising campaign that contributes to conveying the message, including the production of advertising aids. Supply by an advertising agency is an indicator but not a condition. France's exclusions breached the directive. Advertising agencies and their cross-border clients cannot split a campaign into "advertising" and "promotional" elements to obtain a different place of supply. Relevant to media, marketing and event agencies, printers and producers of point of sale material, and to Member States relying on narrow domestic guidance.

C-69/92 Commission v Luxembourg

Judgment · 17 November 1993 · Luxembourg

Scope of "advertising services" for place of supply purposes

"Advertising services" is a Community concept requiring uniform interpretation. It covers any transaction, including the sale of goods distributed free or at reduced price and the organisation of cocktail parties, press conferences, seminars or recreational functions, which conveys a message informing the public of the existence and qualities of a product or service with a view to increasing sales. It also covers any activity forming an inseparable part of an advertising campaign, even if in isolation it conveys no message. Luxembourg's exclusions infringed the Directive. The note to take is the functional test. Relevant to agencies running product launches, promotional giveaways and public relations events, and to their advisers assessing place of supply and registration exposure.

C-73/92 Commission v Spain

Judgment · 17 November 1993 · Spain

Meaning of advertising services for place of supply

"Advertising services" is a Community concept to be interpreted uniformly. It covers promotional activities such as selling goods at reduced prices, free distribution of products, services supplied cheaply or free, or the organisation of a cocktail party or banquet, provided the activity conveys a message informing the public of the existence and qualities of a product or service with a view to increasing sales. Procurement through an advertising agency indicates this, but the supplier need not be an agency. Spain's blanket exclusion infringed Article 9(2)(e). The incorrect interpretation defence failed. A promotional or event-based supply is measured against a message and sales promotion criterion rather than against the label or the supplier's trade. Relevant to marketing and events agencies, hospitality providers, and businesses receiving cross border promotional campaigns.

Related topics

Supply of services · Fixed establishment · Persons liable for payment of VAT · Tax evasion and abuse · Immovable property · Exemptions · Administrative cooperation and combating tax fraud · Rules governing exercise of the right of deduction · Refund of VAT · Place of importation of goods