EU Court Rules VAT Refund Processing Fees Taxable for Non-Commercial Export Transactions

• The case involves the VAT applicability on services provided by a company handling VAT refunds for non-commercial travel exports.
• The company charged a processing fee of 15 percent on refunded VAT to foreign travelers.
• The Hungarian tax authority imposed VAT on the processing fee, arguing it was not linked to the tax-exempt export delivery.
• The company argued the fee was a non-taxable ancillary cost to the tax-exempt export.
• The European Court of Justice ruled the processing service is independent and subject to VAT.
• The service does not qualify for VAT exemption related to export services or payment transactions.

Source: awb-international.com

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.