Telephone advisory services provided by a company on behalf of state health insurance funds through so-called “health coaches” may be exempt from VAT under Article 132 (1) of the VAT Directive as "medical treatment in the field of human medicine", if the consultations have a therapeutic purpose. This was the conclusion of the ECJ following on a request for a preliminary ruling brought by the Supreme Tax Court. The latter has now issued its subsequent (follow-up) decision and referred the case back to the Lower Tax Court for further fact finding.
In a judgement of 5 March 2020 the European Court of Justice (ECJ) dealt with the question whether telephone advisory services provided by a company on behalf of state health insurance funds through so-called “health coaches” may be free from VAT. The ECJ held that VAT exemption may indeed apply, provided the services have a therapeutic or curative objective and are of a comparable level of quality as the services provided by other suppliers in this field.
