A decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on 5 December 2013 related to the question of whether a Portuguese tax known as the screening tax should be included within the taxable amount when computing the amount of VAT payable on the relevant supply of services. The case concerned the amount of VAT chargeable on fees for the screening of advertising services.

The EU Sixth VAT Directive (since replaced by the Recast VAT Directive) provided that the taxable amount is everything that constitutes consideration obtained by the supplier from the customer or third parties. The taxable amount can include any taxes, duties, levies or charges except for the VAT itself. The Advocate General considered in a written opinion that the issue depended on whether the fiscal relationship existed between the advertisers and the government or between TVI and the government.

Finally the ECJ held that under the relevant provisions of the EU Sixth VAT Directive a tax such as the screening tax must be included in the taxable amount for the purposes of VAT payable on services of screening commercial advertising.