VAT and Education, An analysis of the implementation and interpreta-tion of the exemption for educational services in Swedish law
(2022) JURM02 20222Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur utbildning behandlas i förhållande till EU:s mervärdesskattelagstiftning. Vidare kommer denna uppsats att
analysera rättsfall från EU-domstolen och hur domstolens tolkningar av begreppet utbildning relaterar till principen om neutralitet. Med detta som bakgrund kommer uppsatsen gå vidare och titta på hur Sverige har implementerat reglerna för denna typ av verksamhet i nationell rätt. Hur svenska domstolar och Skatteverket har tolkat denna implementering kommer sedan att jämföras med den EU-rättsliga regleringen och principen om neutralitet. Vad neutralitetsprincipen innebär kommer att förklaras med hjälp av doktrin och rättsfall från EU-domstolen.
Slutsatserna som denna uppsats kommer fram... (More) - Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur utbildning behandlas i förhållande till EU:s mervärdesskattelagstiftning. Vidare kommer denna uppsats att
analysera rättsfall från EU-domstolen och hur domstolens tolkningar av begreppet utbildning relaterar till principen om neutralitet. Med detta som bakgrund kommer uppsatsen gå vidare och titta på hur Sverige har implementerat reglerna för denna typ av verksamhet i nationell rätt. Hur svenska domstolar och Skatteverket har tolkat denna implementering kommer sedan att jämföras med den EU-rättsliga regleringen och principen om neutralitet. Vad neutralitetsprincipen innebär kommer att förklaras med hjälp av doktrin och rättsfall från EU-domstolen.
Slutsatserna som denna uppsats kommer fram till är att tillhandahållandet av
utbildningstjänster är undantaget från mervärdesbeskattning i den mån den
faller in under undantaget i artikel 132 i EU:s mervärdesskattedirektiv. EUdomstolen har tolkat undantaget för utbildningstjänster restriktivt och har genom sin praxis utvecklat begreppet utbildning som ett självständigt koncept
under EU-rätten. Tolkningarna från EU-domstolens förhållande till neutralitet varierar, där principen om neutralitet i vissa fall har fått stå tillbaka till
förmån för andra intressen som också är viktiga i förhållande till mervärdesskatterätten. Det ska dock tilläggas att ingen av de tolkningar som presenteras i uppsatsen är helt inkompatibla med neutralitetsprincipen, systemet för mervärdesskatt inom unionen uppfyller generellt kravet på ett neutralt mervärdesskattesystem.
Den svenska implementeringen av regleringen av utbildningstjänster i mervärdesskattedirektivet stämmer generellt sett väl överens med den EU-rättsliga regleringen av det samma. Samma sak kan i stort sett sägas om implementeringens förhållande till EU-domstolens praxis. Något som dock är intressant är att i svenska domstolar har prövningen ofta kommit att handla om ifall den skatteskyldige har tillhandahållit utbildningen på ett självständigt sätt, något som inte alls diskuteras i rättsfallen från EU-domstolen. Skatteverket har också tagit fasta på ett krav om självständighet som är ganska långtgående i förhållande till de svenska domstolarnas praxis. Ett sådant krav får en negativ påverkan på den svenska regleringens förhållande till neutralitet. (Less) - Abstract
- The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how educational services is regu-lated for tax purposes under EU Law. Further, this thesis will analyse the case law considering educational services from the CJEU and consider how the Courts interpretation relates to the principle of neutrality. With the reg-ulation and case law as a basis, the thesis will then consider how the regula-tion of educational services for VAT purposes has been implemented into Swedish national law. The interpretations made by the Swedish courts and the Swedish Tax agency’s compliance with the EU regulation and the prin-ciple of neutrality will also be discussed. The principle of neutrality is ex-plained by using doctrine and will be exemplified by case law from the... (More)
- The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how educational services is regu-lated for tax purposes under EU Law. Further, this thesis will analyse the case law considering educational services from the CJEU and consider how the Courts interpretation relates to the principle of neutrality. With the reg-ulation and case law as a basis, the thesis will then consider how the regula-tion of educational services for VAT purposes has been implemented into Swedish national law. The interpretations made by the Swedish courts and the Swedish Tax agency’s compliance with the EU regulation and the prin-ciple of neutrality will also be discussed. The principle of neutrality is ex-plained by using doctrine and will be exemplified by case law from the CJEU.
The conclusion that this thesis describes is that the supply of educational services is exempted from VAT taxation under article 132 in the EU VAT Directive. The CJEU has interpreted the exemption of educational services strictly and have by their case law developed the concept of education as an independent concept under EU law. The interpretations made by the CJEU and their relationship with the principle of neutrality varies, where the principle of neutrality sometimes have been deprioritised against other in-terests which are also important in relation to EU VAT law. It should how-ever be mentioned that no interpretation made by the court is completely incompatible with the principle of neutrality. The system of VAT within the union generally meets the requirement of a neutral VAT system.
The Swedish implementation of the regulation of educational services in the EU VAT Directive is generally compatible with the one in the di-rective. The same can be said regarding the implementation’s relation to the case law from the CJEU. However, an interesting aspect is that the Swedish courts has focused on if the educational services are supplied in-dependently, something that is not discussed in the case law from the CJEU. The Swedish Tax Agency has also focused on a criterion of inde-pendence which is rather far-reaching in relation to the case law from the Swedish courts and such a criterion creates a negative effect on the rela-tionship between the Swedish regulation and the principle of neutrality. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9105036
- author
- Lindau, Embla LU
- supervisor
-
- Mariya Senyk LU
- organization
- course
- JURM02 20222
- year
- 2022
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Skatterätt
- language
- English
- id
- 9105036
- date added to LUP
- 2023-01-24 09:04:04
- date last changed
- 2023-01-24 09:04:04
@misc{9105036,
abstract = {{The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how educational services is regu-lated for tax purposes under EU Law. Further, this thesis will analyse the case law considering educational services from the CJEU and consider how the Courts interpretation relates to the principle of neutrality. With the reg-ulation and case law as a basis, the thesis will then consider how the regula-tion of educational services for VAT purposes has been implemented into Swedish national law. The interpretations made by the Swedish courts and the Swedish Tax agency’s compliance with the EU regulation and the prin-ciple of neutrality will also be discussed. The principle of neutrality is ex-plained by using doctrine and will be exemplified by case law from the CJEU.
The conclusion that this thesis describes is that the supply of educational services is exempted from VAT taxation under article 132 in the EU VAT Directive. The CJEU has interpreted the exemption of educational services strictly and have by their case law developed the concept of education as an independent concept under EU law. The interpretations made by the CJEU and their relationship with the principle of neutrality varies, where the principle of neutrality sometimes have been deprioritised against other in-terests which are also important in relation to EU VAT law. It should how-ever be mentioned that no interpretation made by the court is completely incompatible with the principle of neutrality. The system of VAT within the union generally meets the requirement of a neutral VAT system.
The Swedish implementation of the regulation of educational services in the EU VAT Directive is generally compatible with the one in the di-rective. The same can be said regarding the implementation’s relation to the case law from the CJEU. However, an interesting aspect is that the Swedish courts has focused on if the educational services are supplied in-dependently, something that is not discussed in the case law from the CJEU. The Swedish Tax Agency has also focused on a criterion of inde-pendence which is rather far-reaching in relation to the case law from the Swedish courts and such a criterion creates a negative effect on the rela-tionship between the Swedish regulation and the principle of neutrality.}},
author = {{Lindau, Embla}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{VAT and Education, An analysis of the implementation and interpreta-tion of the exemption for educational services in Swedish law}},
year = {{2022}},
}