The European Commission’s VAT Committee has called for a full imposition of the Skandia tax case.
The European Court of Justice case considered whether EU transactions between a foreign bank branch and its headquarters should be including in VAT groupings. Currently, see table below, there are significant variations between member states. The VAT Committee’s recommendations are non-binding.
| Member state | Latest position |
| Cyprus, Finland, Germany, Spain (advanced method) | The intention of these member states is uncertain |
| Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, UK | It is not expected that these member states to apply ‘establishment only’ VAT grouping to create intra-establishment supplies when the establishment in the member state is VAT grouped |
| Italy, Romania, Spain (basic method) | These types of ‘VAT grouping’ are purely administrative, treating each member as a separate taxable person and just amalgamating their VAT figures on a single return. |
| Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Slovakia, Sweden | It is expected that these member states to apply ‘establishment only’ VAT grouping to create intra-establishment supplies when the establishment in the member state is VAT grouped |
| Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia | These member states do not have VAT grouping |
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VP Global Indirect Tax
Richard Asquith
Richard Asquith is VP Global Indirect Tax at Avalara, helping businesses understand their compliance obligations as they grow globally. He is part of the European leadership team which this year won International Tax Review's Tax Technology Firm of the Year. Richard qualified as an accountant with KPMG in the UK, and went on to work in Hungary, Russia and France with EY.