The recent EU level failure of the project to introduce a European-wide digital services tax has resulted in France being the first European country to draw up a bill for a national digital services tax. German companies may also be affected by this tax, the introduction of which is planned, with retroactive effect, as of 01.01.2019. Other EU Member States may now also feel compelled to introduce a national digital services tax. In addition, the French draft law is likely to influence the debate on a global digital services tax at G7, G20 and OECD level.

In the legal case A & G Fahrschul-Akademie (C-449/17), the ECJ denied VAT-exemption for driving lessons. Here, the court interpreted the requirements for exempted supplies of commercial education services in accordance with Art. 132 para 1 (i) and (j) of the VAT Directive more strictly than before. The decision is therefore important not only for the driving school sector but for all providers of commercial educational service supplies.

It could be that Brexit will take place in less than 2 weeks. It is also possible that Great Britain’s departure from the EU will be an unregulated one. The British legislator has therefore made initial preparations to ensure that a functioning VAT law will continue to exist as from 30.03.2019 in the instance of this worst-case scenario. Unfortunately, many issues, especially for foreign taxable persons, remain unresolved.