The treatment of joint supplies of several goods, several services, or a combination of goods and services for the purposes of European Value Added Tax

Abstract

Abstract: When a commercial supply comprises a set of elements, with different VAT treatments for each one of them, the question of whether each element should be treated individually or if all elements should assume the same VAT treatment and, if so, which treatment, has an increasing importance in the tax economy.

The way of dealing with joint or composite supplies in European VAT has given rise to numerous rulings of the European Court of Justice, taking in account the limited value of the guidelines provided by the VAT Directive. The analysis of these and ECJ positions set criteria revealing that the legal context and circumstances are, in each specific situation, decisive for the qualification of the operation, as a whole, as a single or multiple deliveries. That is the purpose of the approach that is carried out here.

Key-words: VAT; Composite supplies; Single supply.