Court Rules Immediate Ownership Transfer Invalidates Zero VAT Rate for Delayed Horse Exports

• Court rules that ownership of most horses was transferred directly to buyers.
• X BV sold expensive sport horses outside the EU in 2015.
• Dispute over whether the zero VAT rate was correctly applied at export.
• Inspector claims horses were not delivered at the later export date.
• A tax assessment of €560,700 with €105,492 interest was imposed in 2020.
• One horse was given as a gift after failing a medical check.
• Buyers were registered as owners in the FEI database before export.
• X BV cannot prove it cannot recover VAT from buyers, except for the rejected horse.
• The rejected horse still valued at €25,000.
• Only one horse’s export is accepted as the delivery moment due to quarantine and travel arrangements.
• Tax assessment reduced to €518,839.

Source: taxlive.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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