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On October 3, 2018, the Opinion issued by the Advocate General (‘AG’) to the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) in the Morgan Stanley & Co International plc (‘Morgan Stanley’) case (case no. C-165/17) was published. This case concerns the VAT recovery of costs incurred by a fixed establishment that are also used for the activities of a foreign head office. 

On October 17, 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter: CJEU) rendered judgment in the Ryanair case (C-249/17). The case concerned the Irish airline Ryanair, which had incurred costs in respect of its attempt to acquire its competitor Aer Lingus. 

On October 18, 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) delivered its judgment in the Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited case (C-153/17). The CJEU ruled that in the case of a hire purchase agreement, the supply of a vehicle and supplies of credit can be treated as separate supplies for VAT purposes.

On October 19, 2018, the Supreme Court rendered its final judgment in two important corporate income tax cases, in which it had previously requested a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and on which it had received a ruling at the beginning of 2018 (see our previous memorandum). 

On May 29, 2017, an amendment to the EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive was adopted, so that this directive also focuses on combating hybrid mismatches between EU Member States and third countries (ATAD2). We had already paid attention to this in our previous memorandum. On October 29, 2018, the government launched an internet consultation to give interested parties the opportunity to respond to the draft bill to implement ATAD2. This bill and the changes it will entail for corporate income tax are discussed below. 

On July 17, 2018, the EU and Japan signed a new Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), with expected entry into force in the first half of 2019 after ratification by the European and Japanese Parliaments. 

On November 8, 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter: CJEU) rendered judgment in the C&D Foods case (C-502/17). The case concerned the recovery of VAT on costs related to a proposed, but ultimately not realized, sale of shares. 

The change to the zero VAT rate for the delivery and provisioning of seagoing vessels and the performance of services to seagoing vessels had already been announced in the 2018 Tax Plan and was originally intended to take effect on January 1, 2018. H

In a letter sent to the Lower House on November 22, 2018, the Deputy Minister of Finance outlined the main features of the revision of the ruling practice. The revision is aimed at further safeguarding the quality of the ruling practice for businesses with activities of substance as well as enhancing its robustness. 

On December 4, 2018, the Economic and Financial Affairs Council of the EU (ECOFIN) held an exchange of views on the digital services tax, but failed to reach an agreement on a compromise text tabled by the Austrian Presidency of the EU. Member States also had the opportunity to comment on a last minute proposal presented by France and Germany that would reduce the scope of the tax to revenues for advertisement only