In Wellcome Trust (Case C-459/19), the CJEU held that services supplied to a taxable person who acquired those services in a business capacity are to be regarded as acquired by that taxable person ‘acting as such’, even where the services are acquired exclusively for the taxable person’s non-economic activities. Consequently, it was necessary for the taxable person to account for VAT on those services under the reverse charge. The case highlights the difference between ‘non-economic’ and ‘private’ (which in turn means that ‘business’ is not, as many may have previously thought, synonymous with ‘economic’ in all cases).
There are always corners hidden in the world of VAT that bear illumination, writes Etienne Wong (Old Square Tax Chambers).
www.taxjournal.com/articles/-wellcome-trust-the-reverse-charge
