Legal Cases on VAT Charges for Employee Benefits: Danfoss/Astra Zeneca and Julius Fillibeck Sohne

• Updated guidance on VAT cases involving charges for private use
• Danfoss/Astra Zeneca 2009 STC 701 case involved free meals provided to employees and business contacts
• European Court of Justice ruled no private use charge necessary if meals serve a strict business purpose
• Factors considered included lack of meal choice, basic nature of meals, and purpose to facilitate business meetings
• This established the strict business purpose test
• Julius Fillibeck Sohne 1998 STC 513 case involved employer providing transport for employees to construction sites
• Court initially considered applying a private use charge but decided against it due to practical impossibility for employees to reach sites independently
• This led to the necessity test, assessing if private enjoyment of goods or services is essential for making taxable supplies

Source: gov.uk

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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