Cabinet de avocat UR

In Cabinet de avocat UR (Case C-424/19) (16 July 2020) the CJEU confirmed that a person practising the profession of a lawyer must be regarded as a ‘taxable person’ within the meaning of Directive 2006/112/EC article 9(1). 

The Bucharest Court of Appeal had formerly held that a lawyer does not engage in any economic activity and consequently could not be regarded as carrying out transactions for the supply of goods or services since the contracts concluded with its clients were contracts for legal assistance and not contracts for the provision of services. 

The CJEU also held that EU law precludes a national court in a dispute relating to VAT from applying the principle of res judicata – the principle that the same matter may not be litigated more than once – where that dispute does not relate to a tax period identical to the one which was...