Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2016:991
Date: 2016-12-21
Language of the case: English
Subject matter: Taxation;Value added tax
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary — Judgment of the Court (First Chamber), 4 May 2017 Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Exemptions — Exemptions for certain activities in the public interest — Exemptions for children’s or young people’s education, school or university education, vocational training or retraining –Supplies of services and of goods closely related thereto — Scope — Supply of restaurant and entertainment services by an educational establishment to a limited public — Included — Conditions — Verification a matter for the national court (Council Directive 2006/112, Art. 132(1)(i)) Article 132(1)(i) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax must be interpreted as meaning that activities carried out in circumstances such as those at issue in the main proceedings, consisting in students of a higher education establishment supplying, for consideration and as part of their education, restaurant and entertainment services to third parties, may be regarded as supplies ‘closely related’ to the principal supply of education and accordingly be exempt from value added tax (VAT), provided that those services are essential to the students’ education and that their basic purpose is not to obtain additional income for that establishment by carrying out transactions which are in direct competition with those of commercial enterprises liable for VAT, which it is for the national court to determine. (see para. 43, operative part)