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Finland MBA education liable to VAT

  • Mar 6, 2014 | Richard Asquith

Finland MBA education liable to VAT

The Danish Tax Board has confirmed that MBA courses provided by public universities are still subject to Danish VAT.

MBAs do not qualify for the education VAT exemption.

The University in question provided MBA in addition to undergraduate education and degrees.  It also offered educational services to foreign educational establishments’ students.  The tax authorities wanted to challenge the VAT exemption on these additional educational services on the basis that the learning was not part of the legal state school, university or education system (article 132(1)(i) of the EU VAT Directive (2006/112)).  This clause in the EU VAT Directive does not include additional tuition with primarily commercial aims.

The Board found that the course was not part of the Danish educational system, and the University was under no obligation to provide it under its Charter.  Nor did it receive state funding to do so.


VP Global Indirect Tax
Richard Asquith
VP Global Indirect Tax Richard Asquith
Richard Asquith is the former VP Global Indirect Tax at Avalara