Court Rules No Appeal on VAT Charged on Ferry Fees in Tax Dispute

On March 20, 2025, the Noord-Nederland District Court ruled on a case involving ferry fees, where the plaintiff challenged the turnover tax (VAT) levied on these fees, but the court determined that the plaintiff could not appeal the VAT charged on the ferry fee assessment. The court clarified that it could only rule on the correctness of the ferry fee assessment itself, not the associated VAT, as the latter is administered by the Tax Authority’s inspector, not the assessing official, treating the VAT on the assessment like any other invoiced VAT not appealable to a tax court. The plaintiff’s appeal was deemed unfounded since it solely contested the VAT, not the ferry fee assessment itself. Additionally, the court noted that charging VAT on ferry fees is appropriate as the municipality provides a taxable service, subject to a reduced 9% rate, which the assessing official acknowledged and promised to refund the excess VAT charged to the plaintiff.

Source: uitspraken.rechtspraak.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.

---

---