Case law note: The CJEU Confirms that Composite Services Cannot be Artificially Split in order to Benefit from a Reduced VAT Rate - Intertax View Case law note: The CJEU Confirms that Composite Services Cannot be Artificially Split in order to Benefit from a Reduced VAT Rate by - Intertax Case law note: The CJEU Confirms that Composite Services Cannot be Artificially Split in order to Benefit from a Reduced VAT Rate 46 5

On 18 January 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereafter ‘CJEU’) ruled in the Stadion Amsterdam CV case (Stadion Amsterdam CV v. Staatssecretaris van Financiën, Case C-463/16, ECLI:EU:C:2018:22 (18 January 2018)) that a single supply comprised of two distinct elements, one principal, the other ancillary, which, if they were supplied separately, would be subject to different VAT rates, must be taxed solely at the VAT rate applicable to that single supply. The rate must be determined according to the principal element, even if the price of each element forming the full price paid by a consumer can be identified.

In previous cases, the CJEU had already provided guidance on the VAT treatment applicable to a single supply comprised of several distinct elements. However, the question referred to the CJEU in the Stadion Amsterdam CV case seems to demonstrate that the concept of composite services and the related VAT treatment(s) remained partially unclear(s).

The purpose of this article is to re-examine the main guidelines regarding the concept of composite services as well as the VAT treatment applicable to such supplies in light of the clarification recently provided by the CJEU.

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