Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2009:722
Date: 2009-11-19
Language of the case: Dutch
Court formation: Fourth Chamber
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Taxation;Value added tax
Concepts: Other categories of taxable persons;Supply of a building or parts thereof
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

Summary of the Judgment Tax provisions – Harmonisation of laws – Turnover taxes – Common system of value added tax – Exemptions provided for in the Sixth Directive – Exemption for the supply of buildings and the land on which they stand (Council Directive 77/388, Arts 4(3)(a) and 13B(g)) Article 13B(g) of Sixth Directive 77/388 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes in conjunction with Article 4(3)(a) of that directive must be interpreted as meaning that the exemption from value added tax provided for in Article 13B(g) does not cover the supply of land still occupied by a dilapidated building that is to be demolished and replaced by a new building and whose demolition, paid for by the vendor, had already begun before the actual supply took place. For value added tax purposes, such supply and such demolition form a single transaction, given that, taken as a whole, the aim of the transactions was not to supply the existing building and the land it stands on but land that has not been built on, regardless of how far demolition of the old building had progressed at the moment the land was actually supplied. (see para. 44, operative part)