Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Tax provisions - Harmonisation of laws - Turnover taxes - Common system of value added tax - Exemptions provided for by the Sixth Directive - `Establishments' or `organisations' within the meaning of Article 13A(1) of the Directive - Meaning - Natural persons running a business - Covered

(Council Directive 77/388, Art. 13A(1))

Summary

$$It cannot be inferred from the fact that Article 13A(1) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes mentions different categories of economic operators that the exemptions provided for thereunder are confined to legal persons where it refers expressly to activities undertaken by `establishments' or `organisations', whilst in other cases an exemption may also be claimed by natural persons. While it is true that the terms `establishment' and `organisation' suggest the existence of an individualised entity performing a particular function, those conditions are satisfied not only by legal persons but also by one or more natural persons running a business.

It follows that Article 13A(1) of the Sixth Directive must be interpreted as meaning that the terms `other duly recognised establishments of a similar nature' and `other organisations recognised as charitable by the Member State concerned', which appear in subparagraphs (b) and (g) of that provision respectively, do not exclude from that exemption natural persons running a business.