Judgment;Summary — ECLI:EU:C:2019:559
Date: 2019-07-03
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Eighth Chamber
Subject matter: Taxation;Value added tax
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: United Kingdom

Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Court of Appeal (England & Wales) (Civil Division) (United Kingdom) made on 14 May 2018 – Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs v The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge (Case C-316/18) Language of the case: English Referring court Court of Appeal (England & Wales) (Civil Division) Parties to the main proceedings Applicants: Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Defendants: The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge Questions referred Is any distinction to be made between exempt and non-taxable transactions for the purpose of deciding whether VAT incurred for the purposes of such transactions is deductible? Where management fees are incurred only in relation to a non-taxable investment activity, is it nonetheless possible to make the necessary link between those costs and the economic activities which are subsidised with the investment income which is produced as a result of the investments, so as to permit VAT deduction by reference to the nature and extent of downstream economic activity which carries an entitlement to deduct VAT? To what extent is it relevant to consider the purpose to which the income generated will be put? Is any distinction to be drawn between VAT that is incurred for the purposes of providing capitalisation for a business and VAT that produces its own income stream, distinct from any income stream derived from downstream economic activity? ____________