Kollektivavtalsstiftelsen TRR Trygghetsrådet v Skatteverket.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Celex Number: 62007CJ0291
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:2008:609
• Date: 06 November 2008
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)
• Procedure Type: Reference for a preliminary ruling
• Docket Number: C-291/07

Case C-291/07

Kollektivavtalsstiftelsen TRR Trygghetsrådet

v

Skatteverket

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Regeringsrätten)

(VAT – Place of taxable transactions – Place of supply for tax purposes – Supplier of services established in a Member State other than that in which the customer is established – Status of taxable person – Services supplied to a national foundation carrying out both economic and non-economic activities)

Summary of the Judgment

Tax provisions – Harmonisation of laws – Turnover – Common system of value added tax – Supply of services – Determination of the point of reference for tax purposes

(Council Directives 77/388, Art. 9(2)(e) and 2006/112, Art. 56(1)(c))

Article 9(2)(e) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes, as amended by Directive 1999/59, and Article 56(1)(c) of Directive 2006/112 on the common system of value added tax, which determine the place where services are deemed to be supplied for value added tax purposes for services of consultants, engineers, consultancy bureaux, lawyers, accountants and other similar services, must be interpreted as meaning that where the customer for consultancy services supplied by a taxable person established in another Member State carries out both an economic activity and an activity which falls outside the scope of those directives, that customer is to be regarded as a taxable person even where the supply is used solely for the purposes of the latter activity.

That article does not specify whether it applies only if the taxable person receiving the supply of services uses those services for the purposes of his economic activity. Thus, unlike other provisions of the Sixth Directive, such as Articles 2(1) and 17(2), Article 9(2)(e) does not indicate that such a condition must be satisfied in order for it to apply.

In the absence of any express provision in Article 9(2)(e) of the Sixth Directive that the services supplied must be used for the purposes of the customer’s economic activity, it must be concluded that the fact that the customer uses those services for activities which fall outside the scope of the Sixth Directive does not preclude the application of that provision.

(see paras 28-33, operative part)

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (First Chamber)

6 November 2008 (*)

(VAT – Place of taxable transactions – Place of supply for tax purposes – Service supplier established in a Member State other than that in which the customer is established – Status of taxable person – Services supplied to a national foundation carrying out both economic and non-economic activities)

In Case C‑291/07,

REFERENCE for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC from the Regeringsrätten (Sweden), by decision of 30 May 2007, received by the Court on 15 June 2007, in the proceedings

Kollektivavtalsstiftelsen TRR Trygghetsrådet

v

Skatteverket,

THE COURT (First Chamber),

composed of P. Jann, President of the Chamber, M. Ilešič, A. Tizzano, A. Borg Barthet (Rapporteur) and E. Levits, Judges,

Advocate General: J. Mazák,

Registrar: R. Grass,

having regard to the written procedure,

after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:

– the Skatteverket, by M. Loeb, acting as Agent,

– the German Government, by M. Lumma and C. Blaschke, Agents,

– the Greek Government, by S. Spyropoulos and I. Bakopoulos, and by I. Pouli, Agents,

– the Italian Government, by I. M. Braguglia, Agent, and by G. de Bellis, avvocato dello Stato,

– the Polish Government, by T. Nowakowski, Agent,

– the Commission of the European Communities, by D. Triantafyllou and P. Dejmek, acting as Agents,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 17 June 2008,

gives the following

Judgment

1 This reference for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 9(2) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes – Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1), as amended by Council Directive 1999/59/EC of 17 June 1999 (OJ 1999 L 162, p. 63; ‘the Sixth Directive’), and of Article 56(1)(c) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1).

2 The reference has been made in proceedings between Kollektivavtalsstiftelsen TRR Trygghetsrådet (Restart – Council for redundancy support and advice; ‘TRR’), a Swedish foundation which carries out both economic and other activities, and the Skatteverket (Swedish local tax board), concerning the tax consequences of the supply of certain consultancy services which TRR wishes to obtain and whether TRR must be regarded as a trader within the meaning of Chapter 5, Paragraph 7, of Law 1994:200 on value added tax (mervärdesskattelagen (1994:200); ‘the ML’). The dispute relates to a period during which the Sixth Directive and Directive 2006/112 were successively applicable.

Legal context

Community legislation

3 Under point (1) of Article 2 of the Sixth Directive (essentially reproduced in Article 2(1)(a) of Directive 2006/112), ‘the supply of goods or services effected for consideration within the territory of the country by a taxable person acting as such’ is to be subject to value added tax (‘VAT’).

4 Under Article 4(1) of the Sixth Directive (essentially...