Details of the opinion of the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in respect of questions on VAT and education services are now available. The opinion was given in relation questions referred to the ECJ in relation to a case concerning a Polish company. The Advocate General generally issues an opinion on a case as guidance for the ECJ but the Court does not have to follow the opinion of the Advocate General in reaching its final decision on the issues.
The Polish company was therefore of the opinion that the Polish VAT provisions were not compatible with EU law. The starting point for the Advocate General was that Article 132 (1) (i) of the VAT Directive refers to educational services that are exempt from VAT if the supply of the services is made by a public educational body or by an organization that has a similar objective to that public educational body. The Advocate General expressed the opinion however that if the VAT exemption is incompatible with EU law the taxable person cannot both exempt taxable supplies and also reclaim input tax in respect of those supplies.
