Judgment of the Court (Ninth Chamber) of 18 April 2024 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesfinanzhof - Germany) - M-GbR v Finanzamt O
(Case C-68/23, 1 Finanzamt O (Single-purpose vouchers))
(Reference for a preliminary ruling – Common system of value added tax (VAT) – Directive 2006/112/EC – Articles 30a and 30b – Vouchers supplied electronically – Single-purpose and multi-purpose vouchers – Prepaid cards or voucher codes for the purchase of digital content, with a ‘country’ identifier making the digital content in question accessible only in the Member State in question)
Language of the case: German
Referring court
Bundesfinanzhof
Parties to the main proceedings
Applicant: M-GbR
Defendant: Finanzamt O
Operative part of the judgment
Article 30a and Article 30b(1) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax, as amended by Council Directive (EU) 2017/2455 of 5 December 2017,
must be interpreted as meaning that the classification of a voucher as a ‘single-purpose voucher’ within the meaning of Article 30a(2) of Directive 2006/112, as amended, depends solely on the conditions laid down in that provision, which include the requirement that the place of supply of services to end consumers, to which that voucher relates, must be known at the time of the issue of that voucher, irrespective of the fact that the voucher is the subject of transfers between taxable persons acting in their own name and established in the territory of Member States other than that in which those end consumers are located.
Article 30b(2) of Directive 2006/112, as amended by Directive 2017/2455,
must be interpreted as meaning that the resale by a taxable person of ‘multi-purpose vouchers’, within the meaning of Article 30a(3) of Directive 2006/112, as amended, may be subject to value added tax, provided that it is classified as a supply of services to the taxable person who, in consideration for those vouchers, carries out the actual handing over of the goods or the actual provision of the services to the end consumer.
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1 OJ C 179, 22.5.2023.