On 8 August 2025, the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) updated its long-awaited application letter on online education and other events dated 29 April 2024. The main point of criticism, according to which recordings lead to the entire supply being subject to VAT, has been modified. This is to be welcomed. However, the reversal is only partially successful. All providers must re-evaluate their courses at short notice. Some will even be required to make urgent changes to their practices. Providers of online events are currently subject to a hodgepodge of several Ministry of Finance letters, a new version of sec. 4 no. 21 of the German Value Added Tax Act and the Distance Learning Protection Act.

If a person overstates VAT in an invoice issued to a final consumer, no VAT liability arises under sec. 14c of the German VAT Act / Art. 203 of the EU VAT Directive. So far, nothing new. However, in its judgment of 1 August 2025 (P-GmbH II – C-794/23), the ECJ clarified its case law in this regard: Whether a VAT liability arises due to the issuance of an invoice must always be assessed separately for each individual invoice. The term "final consumer" must be interpreted narrowly. Where invoices are issued to both final consumers and taxable persons, the ratio may, in cases of doubt, be estimated. The ECJ sets out relevant criteria for such estimation. The German tax authorities have, to date, fallen significantly short of these standards.

Is a doctor providing VAT-exempt medical treatment when taking over emergency services for other doctors for remuneration? Or is the content of the service to be seen more as a doctor buying himself out of his duty to provide emergency services? The case before the German Federal Fiscal Court is interesting because the tax authorities tend to interpret the scope of the VAT exemption for medical treatment very narrowly.