With a further ruling, the Federal Fiscal Court has clarified its case law on the transfer of a going concern. In the disputed case, only the inventory was sold. The business premises were not included. The Federal Fiscal Court was required to deal with the question of whether the isolated sale of the inventory constituted the transfer of a going concern, and was therefore outside the scope of VAT.

The Federal Fiscal Court confirms the ECJ’s decision in the legal case Stadium Amsterdam, according to which a partial application of a reduced VAT rate in the case of a single supply is found to be out of the question.

The Federal Ministry of Finance has extended the transitional phase for the VAT treatment of supplies via stocks until 31.12.2019. Hence, companies affected by this change have gained further time and presumably will only have to deal with this issue as 2020 approaches. Quick Fixes containing an EU-wide simplification rule for consignment stocks will then be implemented.