The Complexities of Marketing in EU VAT

Abstract

The promotion of goods and services within the European Union has VAT implications that are not sufficiently well known, either because this is an area with rich ECJ case law that is hard to grasp, because it is not a direct revenue-generating stream or perhaps because of both reasons. In this article, the authors provide an overview of the most complex VAT marketing issues, such as functional and volume rebates, global discounts, free supplies and loyalty programmes, with the aim of allowing practitioners to learn enough about the tax implications of these programmes to enhance the tax controls around them.