Press Release: Taxation: Germany referred to the Court for limitation of VAT exemption granted to shared services

The European Commission decided to refer Germany to the Court of Justice of the European Union to ensure that the German VAT legislation on exemptions for sharing costs of services complies with EU law.

The Commission sent a request taking the form of a reasoned opinion to Germany on 6 April 2011. Germany was requested to extend the scope of the domestic VAT provisions for failure to comply with the VAT Directive. As the national legislation had not been amended, the case was referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union.