ECJ C-193/26 (St. Kliment Ohridski Primary Private School II) – Questions – VAT exemption for private education: compulsory curriculum vs. optional lessons

Summary

• This is a request for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU, lodged on 9 February 2026 by the Sofiyski rayonen sad (Sofia District Court, Bulgaria), by decision to refer of 15 January 2026. The parties are St. Kliment Ohridski Primary Private School EOOD (a private educational establishment constituted as a commercial company, and not a body governed by public law) and QX, a parent who had concluded enrolment contracts for the schooling of her two minor children (under 16).
• In the main proceedings, the school seeks payment of a contractual penalty on the ground that the parent unilaterally terminated the enrolment contracts by withdrawing her children from the establishment.
• The central VAT question is whether education supplied for commercial purposes by a private, non‑public‑law establishment can be exempt under Article 132(1)(i) of the VAT Directive, and how to treat optional “additional” lessons (foreign languages, mathematics, literature, sport, music, summer school) that fall outside the compulsory State curriculum — in particular whether such lessons are “school education” or supplies “closely related” to an exempt principal supply.
• The referring court also asks, in the alternative, whether preferential VAT treatment favouring public schools distorts competition and the internal market for educational services. The case follows the same parties’ earlier consumer‑protection reference, C‑429/24 (judgment of 30 April 2025), and is registered under the usual case name “St. Kliment Ohridski Primary Private School II”. [juris.curi….europa.eu], [juris.curi….europa.eu] [juris.curi….europa.eu], [juris.curi….europa.eu] [juris.curi….europa.eu] [juris.curi….europa.eu] [juris.curi….europa.eu] [vatupdate.com], [eur-lex.europa.eu]

Articles of the EU VAT Directive 2006/112/EC discussed

• Article 1(2) — States the fundamental principle of the common VAT system: VAT is a general tax on consumption applied to goods and services, exactly proportional to price. It is invoked as the neutrality/consumption‑tax benchmark against which the education exemption and any resulting competitive distortion are assessed. [juris.curi….europa.eu]
• Article 2 — Defines the scope of VAT, in particular supplies of goods and services for consideration by a taxable person acting as such. Relevant to whether the fee‑paying education and the “additional” lessons are taxable supplies in the first place before any exemption is considered. [juris.curi….europa.eu]
• Article 132(1)(i) — Exempts the provision of children’s/young people’s education, school or university education, vocational training and the supply of services and goods closely related thereto, by bodies governed by public law or by other organisations recognised by the Member State as having similar objects. This is the core provision: the school is not a public‑law body, so the questions turn on whether a commercial private establishment teaching the State curriculum can be a “recognised” body, and whether optional lessons are “school education” or “closely related” supplies. [juris.curi….europa.eu], [juris.curi….europa.eu]
• Article 133 — Allows Member States to make the exemption for non‑public‑law bodies subject to conditions (e.g. no systematic aim to make a profit, management on an essentially voluntary basis, prices approved by public authorities, no distortion of competition). Referenced in Question 1 as a condition‑setting provision for exempting commercially‑purposed education. [juris.curi….europa.eu]
• Article 134 — Excludes from the exemption supplies that are not essential to the exempt transactions, or whose basic purpose is to obtain additional income through transactions in direct competition with commercial enterprises subject to VAT. Central to whether the freely‑chosen “additional” lessons can be severed from the exempt principal supply and taxed. [juris.curi….europa.eu]

Note: The request also relies on Articles 101, 102 and 107 TFEU (competition, internal market and State aid) and Articles 3(1) and 6(1) of Directive 93/13/EEC (unfair terms in consumer contracts), alongside the general principles of equal treatment, proportionality, fiscal neutrality and fiscal transparency. [juris.curi….europa.eu]

Preliminary Ruling Questions

1. Must Article 132(1)(i), Article 133 and Article 134 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax be interpreted as not precluding the exemption from value added tax of the supply of education services provided for commercial purposes by establishments that are not bodies governed by public law, where the establishment concerned provides education in accordance with State education standards in the subjects and subject areas that are taught in schools and covering the content of the curriculum applicable throughout the national territory (compulsory education)? [juris.curi….europa.eu]

2. Must Article 132(1)(i) of Directive 2006/112/EC be interpreted as meaning that the activities carried out in circumstances such as those in the main proceedings, namely: the organisation of additional education and lessons in school subjects such as foreign languages, mathematics, literature, sport, music, summer school – that is to say, education that is not part of the compulsory curriculum in accordance with recognised State education standards – which are freely chosen by pupils or their parents and which take place outside the timetable/the usual teaching hours and may be provided by another national or European commercial company in accordance with the principles of the free market and freedom of contract, cannot be classified as ‘school education’ and/or ‘closely related’ to the supply of the education service as the principal supply and therefore as being exempt from VAT? [juris.curi….europa.eu]

3.(Posed only if Question 2 is answered in the affirmative — i.e. if the additional education does not fall within Article 132(1)(i).) Whether Article 102 TFEU applies to the provision of a taxable but untaxed supply of services under an enrolment contract for additional lessons (inter alia foreign languages, Bulgarian language and literature, mathematics, sport and music) to a person who has concluded such a contract […]. [juris.curi….europa.eu]

Transparency note: The accessible portion of the official Curia summary sets out Questions 1 and 2 in full but truncates at Question 3, and the source’s stated legal basis indicates that the referral additionally poses questions on Articles 101 and 107 TFEU and on Articles 3(1) and 6(1) of Directive 93/13/EEC (whether misdescribing the final service as VAT‑taxable amounts to an unfair contract term). I have not reproduced the exact wording of those later questions because it was not retrievable from the source, and I have not invented it. [juris.curi….europa.eu], [juris.curi….europa.eu]

Key Takeaways

• Scope of the education exemption for commercial private schools is squarely in play. The Court is asked to clarify whether a for‑profit, non‑public‑law establishment teaching the compulsory State curriculum can benefit from the Article 132(1)(i) exemption — a point of real significance for private education providers across Member States. [juris.curi….europa.eu]
• Bundling vs. severability of “optional” supplies. By focusing on Articles 132(1)(i) and 134, the reference will test whether freely‑chosen extracurricular lessons are “closely related” to exempt schooling or must be treated as separate taxable supplies — a composite‑supply / “closely related goods and services” question with wider relevance to VAT structuring of ancillary offerings. [juris.curi….europa.eu]
• VAT exemption meets competition and neutrality. The referring court links the education exemption to competition, State aid and fiscal‑neutrality concerns, raising the prospect that differential VAT treatment of public vs. private schools could be scrutinised for distortion of the internal market — an unusual crossover between VAT exemptions and EU competition/State‑aid principles. [juris.curi….europa.eu]

Source

Curia – Request for a preliminary ruling, Case C‑193/26 (St. Kliment Ohridski Primary Private School II) – official PDF [juris.curi….europa.eu]