Clarification on VAT Treatment of Fuel Cards: Guidelines for Card and Lease Companies

• European guidelines have been published clarifying the VAT treatment of fuel costs for card and lease companies.
• Card and leasing companies are entitled to recover VAT on fuel costs when purchasing under a commissioners agreement.
• The guidelines state that the “legal ownership” of the fuel must be transferred across all links and the VAT treatment must be the same.
• The guidelines are not legally enforceable and member states can disregard them.
• Card and leasing companies should review their contracts and consider using a commissioners agreement to avoid VAT issues.
• The guidelines are particularly relevant in cross-border situations.
• The Netherlands has approved that card and leasing companies are entitled to a VAT refund, but this approval does not apply abroad.
• It is not always clear how the conditions of the guidelines should be implemented in practice.

Source: loyensloeff.com

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.

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