- The taxpayer is a Lithuanian staffing agency that provides personnel to clients in the Netherlands.
- The agency offers housing to its employees, deducting a fee from their wages.
- The agency does not own the accommodations and employees are not obligated to use them.
- The agency requests a refund of VAT paid for the housing from third-party providers.
- The main issue in dispute is whether the provision of housing is a service for a fee.
- A service is considered to be provided for a fee when there is a direct connection between the service and the received consideration.
- The requirement for the consideration to be real means there must be a genuine connection between the service provided and the amount paid.
- The fact that the service provider earns a small portion of the costs does not establish a genuine connection.
Source: uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
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.
