Joined Cases C-250/14 and C-289/14: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 23 December 2015 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil d’État — France) — Air France-KLM, formerly Air France (C-250/14), Hop!-Brit Air SAS, formerly Brit Air (C-289/14) v Ministère des Finances et des Comptes publics (VAT — Chargeable event and chargeability — Air transport — Ticket purchased but not used — Provision of the transport service — Issue of the ticket — Time of payment of the tax)
Date: 2015-12-23
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: VAT, air transport, basis of tax assessment, carriage of passengers, franchising, payment, taxable income, ticket








C_2016068EN.01000701.xml










22.2.2016   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 68/7





Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 23 December 2015 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Conseil d’État — France) — Air France-KLM, formerly Air France (C-250/14), Hop!-Brit Air SAS, formerly Brit Air (C-289/14) v Ministère des Finances et des Comptes publics
(Joined Cases C-250/14 and C-289/14) (1)

((VAT - Chargeable event and chargeability - Air transport - Ticket purchased but not used - Provision of the transport service - Issue of the ticket - Time of payment of the tax))
(2016/C 068/09)
Language of the case: French

Referring court

Conseil d’État

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicants: Air France-KLM, formerly Air France (C-250/14), Hop!-Brit Air SAS, formerly Brit Air (C-289/14)

Defendant: Ministère des Finances et des Comptes publics

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Articles 2(1) and 10(2) 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 1999/59/EC of 17 June 1999, then by Council Directive 2001/115/EC of 20 December 2001, must be interpreted as meaning that the issue by an airline company of tickets is subject to value added tax where the tickets issued have not been used by passengers and the latter are unable to obtain a refund for those tickets.










2.


Article 2(1) and the first and second subparagraphs of Article 10(2) of the Sixth Directive 77/388, as amended by Directive 1999/59, then by Directive 2001/115, must be interpreted as meaning that the value added tax paid when the air ticket was purchased by a passenger who has not used it becomes chargeable on receipt of payment of the ticket price, whether by the airline company itself, by a third party acting in its name and on its behalf, or by a third party acting in its own name but on behalf of the airline company.










3.


Articles 2(1) and 10(2) of the Sixth Directive 77/388, as amended by Directive 1999/59, then by Directive 2001/115, must be interpreted as meaning that, in the event that a third party sells an airline company’s tickets on behalf of that company in the context of a franchise agreement and pays that company, in respect of tickets issued and no longer valid, a lump sum calculated as a percentage of the annual turnover from the corresponding flight routes, that sum constitutes a sum that is taxable as consideration for those tickets.






(1)  OJ C 253, 4.8.2014.

OJ C 261, 11.8.2014.