In Germany, the activities of members of supervisory boards are generally subject to VAT. In its judgement in the Dutch case IO of 13.06.2019 (C-420/18), the ECJ decided otherwise. In this case, the ECJ denied the independence of a member of the supervisory board of a foundation. The ECJ ruled that a supervisory board member does not act in his own name, on his own account or on his own responsibility and is subordinate to the supervisory board itself. The individual member does not bear any economic risk associated with his activity. The individual powers of the members of German supervisory boards of stock corporations and cooperatives are already limited by law to a similar extent as referred to in the ECJ proceedings. The decision is therefore likely to result in the alteration of the taxation of German supervisory boards in terms of non-taxability. If the activity of the supervisory board member is not taxable, there is no right for VAT deduction. For the past, the clear guidelines of the German VAT circular should protect legitimate expectations. This is particularly important with regard to the deduction of the input VAT arising from purchases.

The so-called Quick Fixes will come into force on 01.01.2020 and will lead to some changes of the VAT laws in the EU member states. There are a number of questions in doubt in this regard. The EU Commission therefore considers it necessary to publish guidelines in order to ensure uniform application within the EU. It has now published initial thoughts on the subject and asked the Member States for further comments.

France has asked the European Commission's VAT Committee for an opinion on the VAT treatment of recharging electric vehicles (so-called "e-charging"). The VAT Committee will give its opinion on whether e-charging constitutes a single supply and whether it is to be qualified as a supply of services or as a supply of electricity and also whether the ECJ jurisprudence in Auto Lease Holland and Vega International could be applicable to supplies made by EMPs. Once the opinion of the VAT Committee is published, conclusions could also be drawn as to how the supplies of entrepreneurs with a comparable business, such as fuel card issuers, are to be treated from a VAT perspective.