Judgment;Summary — ECLI:EU:C:2026:157
Date: 2026-03-05
Language of the case: Swedish
Court formation: Ninth Chamber
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Sweden

summary, the Supreme Administrative Court notes that the parties to the case 
have different views on several points as to how the definition of voucher in 
Article 30a of the VAT Directive is to be interpreted. The rules on vouchers were 
incorporated into the directive relatively recently and the case-law of the Court of 
Justice concerning the definition of voucher does not provide answers to the 
questions of interpretation raised in this case. In the view of the Supreme 
Administrative Court, it is therefore necessary to request a preliminary ruling from 
the Court of Justice on the interpretation of the definition. 
34 If the Court of Justice were to find that a points system such as that at issue in this 
case falls within the definition of vouchers, the question would also arise as to 
how the taxable amount is to be determined when the points are used to obtain 
goods from the company’s points shop. The parties to the case agree that in such a 
case they are multi-purpose vouchers and the taxable amount should be set at zero 
kronor. 
35 The Supreme Administrative Court agrees with the parties’ assessment that the 
points, if they constitute vouchers, must be regarded as multi-purpose vouchers 
since the goods which can be obtained in return for the points are subject to 
different rates of VAT. Thus, under Article 73a of the directive, the taxable 
amount for the use of the points must, as a rule, correspond to the consideration 
paid for the points. As stated in paragraph 32 above, the case-law of the Court of 
Justice may be interpreted as meaning that no part of the consideration paid by the 
company’s customers for their purchases giving rise to points constitutes 
consideration for the points themselves, which would mean that the taxable 
amount is zero kronor. However, as pointed out in that paragraph, that case-law 
applied to different provisions of the directive. The Supreme Administrative Court 
therefore seeks clarification from the Court of Justice as to whether, for the 
purposes of determining the taxable amount under Article 73a of the directive, any 
part of the consideration paid by customers is to be considered to relate to the 
points which they obtain in connection with the purchase. 
LYKO OPERATIONS 
 
9 
Questions referred for a preliminary ruling 
36 In the light of the foregoing, the Supreme Administrative Court seeks answers to 
the following questions. 
Question 1: Does an instrument in the form of points – such as that at issue in the 
main proceedings – constitute a voucher as defined in Article 30a of the VAT 
Directive where the points are awarded under a customer loyalty programme 
designed in such a way that a customer who purchases goods obtains points 
according to the size of the purchases and is then entitled, when making a future 
purchase, to use the points to obtain further goods from the seller’s range? 
Question 2: If the answer to Question 1 is [in the affirmative], how is the taxable 
amount under Article 73a of the VAT Directive to be determined when the points 
are used to obtain goods from the seller?