Unredeemed Auction Bids Don’t Affect VAT Liability

• A fiscal unit offers an online auction for consumers through a website.
• The products auctioned are travel, arrangements, and products offered by third-party entrepreneurs.
• After the auction winner pays the winning bid amount, the fiscal unit provides a digital voucher.
• The winner must redeem this voucher within a certain period by making a booking or order on the fiscal unit’s website.
• The Supreme Court rules that the fiscal unit is liable for VAT on the compensation once the winner has paid it.
• The paid compensation constitutes the consideration for an individualizable service.
• For VAT purposes, it is irrelevant whether a voucher is issued after payment, the fiscal unit requires that the voucher be spent on an order or booking on its website within a certain period, or the auction winner does not or does not timely spend the voucher by making a booking or order.
• The fiscal unit must therefore also pay VAT on the compensation in the event of non-redemption of a voucher.
• The inspector therefore rightly rejected the request for VAT refund.

Source: fiscount.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.

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