Case C-653/11: Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 20 June 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) — United Kingdom) — Her Majesty’s Commissioners of Revenue and Customs v Paul Newey, trading under the business name Ocean Finance (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Sixth VAT Directive — Article 2(1) and Article 6(1) — Meaning of ‘supply of services’ — Supply of advertising and loan broking services — Exemptions — Economic and commercial reality of the transactions — Abusive practices — Transactions with the sole aim of obtaining a tax advantage)
Date: 2013-06-20
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: United Kingdom, VAT, advertising, interpretation of the law, loan, provision of services, restriction on competition, tax exemption








C_2013225EN.01001901.xml










3.8.2013   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 225/19





Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 20 June 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) — United Kingdom) — Her Majesty’s Commissioners of Revenue and Customs v Paul Newey, trading under the business name Ocean Finance
(Case C-653/11) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Sixth VAT Directive - Article 2(1) and Article 6(1) - Meaning of ‘supply of services’ - Supply of advertising and loan broking services - Exemptions - Economic and commercial reality of the transactions - Abusive practices - Transactions with the sole aim of obtaining a tax advantage)
2013/C 225/31
Language of the case: English

Referring court

Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber)

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Her Majesty’s Commissioners of Revenue and Customs

Defendant: Paul Newey, trading under the business name Ocean Finance

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling — Upper Tribunal — Interpretation of Article 9(2)(e) and Article 13B(d) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1) — Exemption of supplies of loan broking services — Loan broking activities directed at the United Kingdom by a company established in Jersey calling on the services of a person established in the United Kingdom — Attribution of the activities to the company established in Jersey or to the person established in the United Kingdom

Operative part of the judgment

Contractual terms, even though they constitute a factor to be taken into consideration, are not decisive for the purposes of identifying the supplier and the recipient of a ‘supply of services’ within the meaning of Articles 2(1) and 6(1) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment, as amended by Council Directive 2000/65/EC of 17 October 2000. They may in particular be disregarded if it becomes apparent that they do not reflect economic and commercial reality, but constitute a wholly artificial arrangement which does not reflect economic reality and was set up with the sole aim of obtaining a tax advantage, which it is for the national court to determine.


(1)  OJ C 65, 3.3.2012.