Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Supreme Court (Ireland) made on 12 May 2017 – Ryanair Ltd v The Revenue Commissioners

(Case C-249/17)

Language of the case: English

Referring court

Supreme Court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Ryanair Ltd

Defendant: The Revenue Commissioners

Questions referred

Can a future intention to provide management services to a takeover target, in the event that the takeover is successful, be sufficient to establish that the potential acquirer is engaged in economic activity for the purposes of Art. 4 of the Sixth VAT Directive¹ so that VAT charged to the potential acquirer on goods or services provided for the purposes of seeking to progress the relevant acquisition can potentially be considered as VAT on an input to the intended economic activity of providing such management services; and

Can there be a sufficient “direct and immediate link”, as identified as a requirement by the CJEU in Cibo² , between professional services rendered in the context of such a potential takeover and output, being the potential provision of management to the acquisition target in the event that the takeover is successful, so as to permit a deduction to be made in respect of the VAT payable on those professional services?

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¹ Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonization 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).

² Judgment of 27 September 2001, Cibo Participations SA v Directeur régional des impôts du Nord-Pas-de-Calais, C-16/00, EU:C:2001:495.