JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Fifth Chamber) – VAT Case C-647/17

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Fifth Chamber) – VAT

Case C-647/17

REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFUE

Skatteverket
v
Srf konsulterna AB

Judgment

1.     This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 53 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC
of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1), as amended by Council
Directive 2008/8/EC of 12 February 2008 (OJ 2008 L 44, p. 11) (‘the VAT Directive’).

2.      The request has been made in proceedings between the local Swedish tax authorities and Srf konsulterna AB
(‘Srf’) concerning a tax ruling by the Revenue Law Commission, Sweden relating to the collection, in Sweden, of
value added tax (VAT) on the provision of accounting and management courses lasting five days in another
Member State from taxable persons who have established their business or have a fixed establishment in Sweden.

The case in the main proceedings and the questions referred for a preliminary ruling

3.     Srf is a company established in Sweden that is wholly owned by a professional association for accounting,
management and salary consultants. Within that framework, it provides accounting and management courses in
the form of seminars for the members of that association and third parties. Most of those courses are provided in
Sweden, but some take place in other Member States, in which case the trainers of that association travel to the
Member State in question. The courses are provided only to taxable persons whose business is established or who
have a fixed establishment in Sweden.

4.     The training courses are given at a conference centre and last 30 hours, spread over five days, with one day’s
break in the middle. The syllabus is decided in advance, but adapted on the spot depending on the participants,
who must have certain skills and professional experience in accountancy and management.

5.     Participation in the courses provided by Srf is subject to prior registration, which must be confirmed before the
course begins, and payment in advance.

6.     Following a request from Srf, the Revenue Law Commission ruled that those courses, although provided in
Member States other than the Kingdom of Sweden, are to be regarded as taking place in Sweden and that VAT is
therefore chargeable in that Member State. It considered, inter alia, that the expression ‘admission to events’ in
Article 53 of the VAT Directive had been included in order to restrict the scope of exceptions and,
correspondingly, to extend that of the general rule. The term ‘admission to events’ should be understood as
meaning the right to enter a place. However, the services at issue in the main proceedings cannot be characterised
primarily as the right to enter a place, but rather the right to participate in a specific course. Given that the main
objective of the courses at issue in the main proceedings is not to confer a right of admission, within the meaning
of Article 53 of the VAT Directive, VAT in respect of such courses chargeable in Sweden under Article 44 of that
directive.

7.     The local tax authorities, wishing to obtain confirmation of that ruling as well as additional justification for it,
brought proceedings before the Supreme Administrative Court, Sweden. Srf also sought confirmation of that
ruling, taking the view that the application of the exception provided in Article 53 of the VAT Directive
constitutes a disproportionate administrative burden.

8.     By its question, the referring court asks, in essence, whether Article 53 of the VAT Directive must be interpreted
as meaning that the expression ‘services in respect of admission to events’ in that article include a service, such as
that at issue in the main proceedings, in the form of a five-day training course on accountancy and management
which is supplied solely to taxable persons and requires advance registration and payment.

9.     In that regard, it must be observed, as a preliminary point, that Articles 44 and 45 of the VAT Directive contain a
general rule for determining the place where services are deemed to be supplied for tax purposes, while Articles
46 to 59a of that directive provide a number of specific instances of such places.

10.     It follows that Article 53 of the VAT Directive must not be regarded as an exception to a general rule which must
be narrowly construed (see, by analogy, judgment of 8 December 2016, A and B, C 453/15, EU:C:2016:933,
paragraph 19).

11.     Article 53 of that directive provides that the place of supply of services in respect of admission to events,
including educational events, supplied to a taxable person is the place where those events actually take place.

12.     It follows from Article 32(2)(c) of the Implementing Regulation, read in conjunction with Article 32(1), that the
services referred to in Article 53 of the VAT Directive, which concern admission to educational and scientific
events, such as conferences and seminars, include the supply of services of which the essential characteristics are
the granting of the right of admission to an event in exchange for a ticket or payment.

13.     It is apparent from the information provided by the referring court that the courses at issue in the main
proceedings provided by Srf to taxable persons are seminars which take place over five days, with one day’s
break, in a Member State other than the Kingdom of Sweden, where the company has established its business.
Those courses, which require the physical presence of those taxable persons, are therefore part of the educational
events category referred to in Article 32 of the Implementing Regulation.

14.     The essential characteristics of the courses at issue in the main proceedings consist in granting admission to those
courses, it should be noted that, when two or more components or acts supplied by the taxable person are so
closely linked that they form, objectively, a single, indivisible economic supply, which it would be artificial to
split, the transaction is a single supply

15.     The underlying logic of the provisions of the VAT Directive concerning the place where a service is deemed to be
supplied is that goods and services should be taxed as far as possible at the place of consumption.

16.     The place where courses such as those at issue in the main proceedings are deemed to be supplied must be
determined on the basis of Article 53 of the VAT Directive, and those courses must, consequently, be subject to
VAT in the place where the services are actually supplied, that is in the Member States where those courses are
given.

17.     Article 53 of the VAT Directive must be interpreted as meaning that the expression ‘services in respect of
admission to events’ in that provision include a service, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, in the form
of a five-day course on accountancy and management which is supplied solely to taxable persons and requires
advance registration and payment.

 

On those grounds, the Court (Fifth Chamber) hereby rules:

Article 53 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax, as
amended by Council Directive 2008/8/EC of 12 February 2008, as meaning that the expression ‘services in
respect of admission to events’ in that provision include a service, such as that at issue in the main proceedings,
in the form of a five-day course on accountancy and management which is supplied solely to taxable persons
and requires advance registration and payment.