CJEU - Recent Developments in Value Added Tax 2022

S. 169Taxable and Non-Taxable Transactions

Giorgio Beretta

S. 1701. Overview of Chapter Topics

This contribution addresses the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter CJEU) in 2022 relating to whether VAT must be levied or not to supplies of goods and services.

Being a general tax on consumption that is exactly proportional to the price of goods and services, VAT has a very wide scope. However, not all transactions carried out by a taxable person are subject to it. Only payments for supplies of goods or services are liable to tax, i.e. are “taxable transactions” (also referred to as “taxable events”). The term “non-taxable transactions” (also referred to as “non-taxable events”) is reserved for supplies of goods or services that do not fall within the scope of VAT. Both (EU) VAT legislation and the CJEU’s case law include examples of non-taxable transactions. The VAT literature also places some operations outside the scope of VAT.

Art. 2(1) points (a) and (c) of Directive 2006/112/EC (hereinafter the VAT Directive) provides that the supply of goods and services, respectively, for consideration within the territory of a Member State by a taxable person acting as such is s...