Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1998:182
Date: 1998-04-30
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Taxation;Value added tax
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary of the Judgment
1. Tax provisions — Harmonisation of laws — Turnover taxes — Common system of value
added tax— Special scheme for travel agents — Scope —Package travel organised by traders
other than travel agents — Included
(Council Directive 77/388, Art. 26)
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SUMMARY —JOINED CASES C-308/96 AND C-94/97
2. Tax provisions — Harmonisation of hws — Turnover taxes — Common system of value
added tax — Special scheme for travel agents — Scope — Travel packages consisting partly of
in-house services and partly of services bought in from third parties — Application of the
special scheme to the in-house services — Excluded — Method of calculating the taxable
margin
(Council Directive 77/388, Art. 26)
1. The special scheme for travel agents and
tour operators under Article 26 of the
Sixth Directive 77/388 on the harmonisa­
tion of the laws of the Member States
relating to turnover taxes applies to traders,
even if they are not, formally speaking,
travel agents or tour operators, who orga­
nise travel or tour packages in their own
name and entrust other taxable persons
with the supply of the services generally
associated with that kind of activity. How­
ever, a trader should not be taxed under
Article 26 where the services bought in
from third parties remain purely ancillary
in relation to the in-house services.
It follows that Article 26 applies to a hote­
lier who, in return for a package price,
habitually offers his customers, in addition
to accommodation, return transport
between certain distant pick-up points and
the hotel and a coach excursion during
their stay, those transport services being
bought in from third parties.
2. Article 26 of the Sixth Directive 77/388
must be interpreted as meaning that where
a trader subject to that article effects, in
return for a package price, transactions
consisting of services supplied partly by
himself and partly by other taxable per­
sons, the value added tax scheme under
that article applies solely to the services
supplied by third parties.
A trader may not be required to calculate
the part of the package corresponding to
the in-house services by the actual cost
method where it is possible to identify
that part of the package on the basis of the
market value of services similar to those
which form part of the package.
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