Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2020:196
Date: 2020-03-11
Language of the case: English
Subject matter: Taxation;Value added tax
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: United Kingdom

summary, the referring Tribunal concluded that it is arguable that Article 135.l(g),
properly construed, permits an apportionment of the consideration for a single supply
of management services as between the use of those services for the management of
SIFs and non-SIFs respectively. However, it is equally arguable that such an
apportionment cannot apply, and that the single supply should be taxed according to its
predominant or principal use.
33. The referring Tribunal accordingly considers that, in circumstances where services are
used to manage both SIFs and non-SIFs, the correct approach to the interpretation of
Article 135.l(g) cannot be determined by it with complete confidence and is not acte
clair, and that resolving that question of interpretation is necessary to determine the
dispute in the proceedings.
G. QUESTION REFERRED
34. The referring Tribunal accordingly seeks a preliminary ruling from the CJEU on the
following question:
On the proper interpretation of Article 135.1(g) of Council Directive
2006/1121EC, where a single supply of management services within the
meaning of that Article is made by a third-party provider to a fund manager and
is used by that fund manager both in the management of special investment
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· ,
finds ("SIFs") and in the management of other funds that are not special
investment funds ("non-SIFs"):
(a) Is that single supply to be subject to a single rate of tax? If so, how is
that single rate to be determined? or
(b) Is the consideration for that single supply to be apportioned in
accordance with the use of the management services (for example, by reference
to the amounts of the funds under management in the SIFs and non-SIPs
respectively) so as to treat part of the single supply as exempt and part as
taxable?
Mrs Justice Falk
Judge Jonathan Richards
Dated 15 March 2019
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