Guidelines and Working Paper on Fuel Card Transactions in the European Union

• The VAT classification of fuel card transactions has been uncertain since the ECJ rulings in the Auto Lease Holland and Vega International cases.
• The fuel card and logistics industry initiated a discussion at the EU Commission level, resulting in the publication of Working Paper 1067 and the VAT Committee’s Guidelines.
• The Guidelines state that fuel card transactions should be categorized as a supply of a financial service rather than a fuel supply.
• If a fuel card scheme is structured as a commissionaire structure, there should be a supply of fuel by the mineral oil company to the fuel card issuer without the transfer of ownership.
• The Guidelines specify three conditions that must be met for a fuel card scheme to fall under the commissionaire structure.
• The Guidelines do not apply retrospectively and do not prejudice any prior characterizations of fuel card transactions.
• The Working Paper explains that the standard “buy/sell” model for fuel card transactions is rejected unless the fuel card issuer acquires actual power of disposal of the fuel.
• The Guidelines are not legally binding but are likely to influence legal development at the EU level and in Member States.
• Companies are advised to adapt their contracts for fuel card transactions to comply with the Guidelines.

Source: kmlz.de

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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