VAT Deduction for Associations: Challenges and Opportunities for Sports Clubs

• Clubs often provide services that are not subject to tax or are partially or fully tax-exempt
• This results in a (partial) restriction on input tax deduction for clubs, especially when making large investments
• Sport clubs can sometimes claim input tax refunds due to discrepancies between court rulings and tax authorities’ views
• Clubs may consider using a “prepayment model” if necessary
• German tax authorities differentiate between genuine and non-genuine membership fees for tax purposes

Source: datenbank.nwb.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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