Prestaciones de servicios sujetas a tasas municipales e IVA: la STJUE de 13 de julio 2023, C-344/22, en el asunto Gemeinde A

Abstract

The judgment of the CJEU analyses the concept of supply of services for consideration by public authorities for VAT purposes and its connection with the levying of municipal «taxes» in Germany.

The Court examines whether the provision of «spa facilities» by a German municipality constitutes a supply of services within the meaning of Article 2(1)(c) of the VAT Directive. And whether, if that is the case, the element of supplying such services «for consideration» within the meaning of that provision of the VAT Directive is also present.

The CJEU had no difficulty in establishing that the provision of «spa facilities» by a municipality, which collects a «spa tax» of a specified amount for each day of stay, under a municipal statute, from visitors staying in the municipality, where those facilities are freely accessible to all, constitutes a 'supply of services' within the meaning of Article 2(1)(c) of the VAT Directive.

However, it rejected that such a supply of services was 'for consideration' for VAT purposes, on the basis of the verification of the lack of compliance with the elements constituting supplies for consideration in this context in accordance with the case-law of the CJEU.