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Fixed establisment in view of ECJ’s (upcoming) new decision

  • Fixed establishment refers to a permanent place of business, which is not clearly defined in the Value Added Tax Act but is described in Article 11 of Council Regulation (EU) No. 282/2011.
  • A fixed establishment is characterized by sufficient permanence and an adequate structure in terms of staffing and technical facilities to enable it to receive and use services provided for its own needs. This is important because it enables effective intake of tax without prejudicing the interests of individual members of the European Union.
  • However, there are doubts in defining the constancy of staff and technical facilities, which has often been the subject of dispute between taxpayers and tax authorities.
  • The Court of Justice of the European Union and national courts have dealt with this issue frequently.
  • In a recent case (C-333/20 Berlin Chemie), the court ruled that a company established in one Member State does not have a permanent establishment in another Member State simply because it has a subsidiary there that provides human and technical resources on an exclusive basis for marketing, regulatory, advertising, and representation services.
  • The existence of a fixed place of business is not conditioned by only availability to human and technical resources, and these resources cannot be used to provide and purchase the same services at the same time.

Source ASB Group

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