According to the German tax courts, swimming lessons have, at least to date, undoubtedly fallen within the scope of the Union law VAT exemption as constituting part of “school and university tuition”. The ECJ, however, recently restricted the VAT exemption for the commercial supply of tuition services by defining the term “tuition” much more narrowly. This case law has now led to the Federal Fiscal Court raising doubts and referring three questions to the ECJ. The referral shows that the VAT exemption for the supply of commercial tuition services can currently not be determined with any significant degree of legal certainty.

On 24.04.2019, the European Commission presented a proposal for a new VAT exemption. In addition to the VAT exemptions for NATO troops, a VAT exemption for supplies of goods and services to armed forces of other EU states will, in the future, also apply. A prerequisite for the application of the exemption is that the troops serve the common defence effort. For this reason, Articles 22, 143 and 151 of the VAT Directive are to be amended. The draft requires Member States to implement the amendments by 31.06.2022, at the latest.

HMRC intends to strictly implement the correct treatment of input tax deduction of import VAT in the UK: In its letter of 11.04.2019, HMRC points out the current incorrect practice whereby import VAT is often claimed as input tax by non-owners of imported goods. By referencing the example of toll operators, among other taxpayers, HMRC explains how the procedure should be handled correctly. Taxpayers should review their business processes in connection with imports to the UK and adjust them, if necessary.