Maria Kozak v Dyrektor Izby Skarbowej w Lublinie.
Date: 2012-10-25
16. The VAT scheme applicable to transactions carried out by travel agents, laid down in Articles 306 to 310 of the VAT Directive, reproduces in essence the provisions of Article 26 of the 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). That scheme is a special scheme which contains specific rules regarding the activity of travel agents, which derogate from the normal VAT regime.
18. It is apparent from the very wording of that provision that the services concerned are those bought in from third parties.
19. The essential aim of the rules of the special VAT scheme applicable to transactions carried out by travel agents is to avoid the difficulties to which traders would be exposed by application of the normal principles of the VAT Directive concerning transactions involving the supply of services bought in from third parties (see, to that effect, Joined Cases C-308/96 and C-94/97 Madgett and Baldwin [1998] ECR I-6229, paragraph 33). The application of the normal rules on the place of taxation, taxable amount and deduction of input tax would, by reason of the multiplicity of services and the places in which they are provided, entail practical difficulties for those undertakings of such a nature as to obstruct their operations (see C-163/91 Van Ginkel  [1992] ECR I-5723, paragraph 14).
20. As an exception to the normal regime applicable under the VAT Directive, the scheme laid down in Articles 306 to 310 thereof must be applied only to the extent necessary to achieve its objective ( Madgett and Baldwin , paragraph 34).
21. The Court has thus previously held that the special VAT scheme applicable to transactions carried out by travel agents applies only to the services bought in from third parties (see Madgett and Baldwin , paragraph 35).
22. That same line of reasoning led the Court to hold that that scheme does not cover transport services supplied without the involvement of any intermediary, which are covered by the normal provisions applicable to transport undertakings (Case C-74/91 Commission  v Germany  [1992] ECR I-5437, paragraph 26).
23. The Court accordingly concluded that, where a trader subject to the provisions of the special VAT scheme effects, in return for a package price, transactions consisting in services supplied partly by himself and partly by other taxable persons, that special scheme applies only to the services supplied by third parties (see, to that effect, Madgett and Baldwin , paragraph 47).
24. That is the context in which the concept of the supply of a ‘single service’ referred to in Articles 307 and 308 of the VAT Directive must be understood. That concept covers only services which were bought in fro m a third party. In addition, the single service rule relied on by the referring court and referred to in paragraph 12 above, which applies under the normal VAT regime, cannot affect the assessment of that concept in the context of the special VAT scheme applicable to transactions carried out by travel agents.