On September 6, 2023, the Austrian Administrative Court made a decision in case number Ro 2020/15/0018, referencing a fundamental legal principle that in the field of value-added tax (VAT), services should be attributed to the party that provides them in their own name.
The court emphasized that the party responsible for providing the service externally is considered the service provider. If a third party is involved, it must be carefully examined whether the third party is simply an executing agent in the context of a “foreign” service exchange, whether they become the subject of attribution of the service exchange through their design, or whether at least a separate relationship arises between them and the entrepreneur (service recipient) that might lead to a second service exchange.
The court further clarified that the service recipient is the party that has contractually stipulated the service, meaning the party who has both the right and the obligation from the civil law obligation. It was noted that even a commission agent could be considered a service recipient to some extent since they act in their own name, albeit on behalf of another, according to Ruppe/Achatz’s interpretation.
Source: gv.at
