The Distance Learning Protection Act is currently the talk of the coaching industry. On the one hand, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) has now ruled on fundamental questions of application. Among other things, providers must ensure that their courses are, even for commercial participants (“B2B”), approved if they do not want to risk having to refund the full course fee. On the other hand, the German tax authorities want to tie the VAT exemption to said approval in the digital education sector.

The Federal Ministry of Finance has published a new draft letter on mandatory e-invoicing which should update the Administrative VAT Guidelines. However, the letter will also give further details and should provide practical guidance. It is striking that the Federal Ministry of Finance emphasises not only the content check of e-invoices but also a technical check and recommends that companies establish validation solutions. You can find more details in our newsletter.

If a company holds the majority of shares in another company, the ECJ's jurisprudence on holding companies may apply. Since the ECJ does not attribute the business activities of a subsidiary to its parent company, the holding company and the tax authorities are constantly considering how to improve the situation with regard to input VAT deduction in their favour. This results in legal disputes, which often end up before the ECJ. Specifically, the present case concerns the minimum VAT base in this context.