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The German Federal Fiscal Court was recently required to deal with the issue of the transfer of voucher codes for the purchase of digital content both under the old legal situation, up until 31 December 2018, and under the new legal situation, as from 1 January 2019. With respect to the old legal situation, the Federal Fiscal Court assumes that the transfer of voucher codes is subject to down payment taxation and that the place of supply of the service, to which the voucher relates, is sufficiently defined. For the new legal situation, however, the Federal Fiscal Court has expressed general doubts concerning the interpretation of the criterion of the ‘known place of supply’ in the case of vouchers for the supply of services, and has thus turned to the ECJ for guidance.
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In a recently published judgment, the German Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) deals with the 2006 VAT exemption for private hospitals. In referring the case back to the Fiscal Court, the BFH provides some guidance on how the VAT exemption should be examined, specifically in terms of the 40% quota. The Federal Ministry of Finance considered this quota to be a prerequisite for the VAT exemption dating from the year 2009. The legislator then incorporated it into the German VAT Act. As a result, the judgment is also of interest for more recent filing periods. It can provide support regarding the justification for VAT exemption of supplies rendered by private hospitals.
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New acts regularly lead to questions of application. This is also the case with the Platforms Tax Transparency Act, which has been in force since 01.01.2023 and stipulates comprehensive reporting obligations for digital platforms. Even though the Ministry of Finance answered many application questions in its circular of 02.02.2023, some practical questions still remain open.
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