VAT exemption for the supply of commercial education services was recently limited by the ECJ judgment in A & G Fahrschul-Akademie (C-449/17). In doing so, the ECJ defined a new, narrower term for “tuition” than that previously in use. The Federal Fiscal Court did not raise this issue in its most recent decision in this area. Notwithstanding this, however, it assesses the requirements for VAT exempt commercial education and training more strictly than before. According to its standards, the exemption of tango dancing lessons is only possible where a concrete professional relation exists. Due to this deviation from how the ECJ defines the term tuition, the decision is significant for all suppliers of commercial educational services.

Apparently, the German Federal Ministry of Finance had considered a No-Deal Brexit on 12.04.2019 as highly probable. Thus, in its Letter of 08.04.2019, the Ministry provided information on the applicability of German VAT regulations in this instance. In the meantime this date has become obsolete again as the EU has offered a postponement till 31.10.2019. Another date which is often mentioned is 22.05.2019, i.e. the date before the European elections. If and when a “hard” Brexit may happen, is still unclear. In any case the German Federal Ministry of Finance provides specific advice on the VAT treatment of supplies of goods and ongoing services, as well as for consignment stock transactions taking place on or around the Brexit date. The letter also includes statements on procedural adaptions for MOSS, input VAT refunds, liability for operators of online marketplaces and VAT-ID validation.

With its decision of 13.12.2018 (V R 45/17), the Federal Fiscal Court decided, for the first time, that membership fees of professional associations may partially be subject to VAT which allows them to benefit from input VAT deduction. This also depends on the extent to which the professional association is exempt from corporate tax.