CJEU judgment on VAT tour operators’ margin scheme raises ‘big questions’

The CJEU has confirmed the opinion of the advocate general on the VAT treatment of tour operators’ wholesale supplies.

It has judged that eight EU Member States (Spain France Portugal Italy Greece Poland Finland and Czech Republic) are correctly treating wholesale supplies as falling within the VAT tour operators’ margin scheme (TOMS). The remaining EU Member States tax wholesale supplies outside of TOMS.

The main implications of the CJEU’s judgment are:

• wholesale tour operators established in the eight infracted EU Member States that were subject to the court hearing will continue to be required to account for VAT under TOMS on all travel services they sell which are consumed within the EU;
• the VAT treatment of wholesalers in the UK and the other EU Member States not involved in the case will in all probability...