The Supreme Tax Court decided that voucher codes for use in the X network - regardless of the distribution channel - are so-called single-purpose vouchers and their transfer is subject to German VAT because the place of performance is in Germany, and the amount of VAT is already determined at the time of issue based on the country code of the user accounts.
The European Court of Justice held that the issue of vouchers for third-party retailers to employees by a taxable person as part of a recognition program for high-performing employees do not constitute a supply “for the private use of the entrepreneur or for that of his staff or, more generally, for purposes other than those of his business” within the meaning of Article 26(1)(b) of the VAT Directive.
In a Swedish reference for a preliminary ruling, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) had a first opportunity to comment on the distinction and VAT treatment of single-purpose vouchers and multi-purpose vouchers in Article 30a of the VAT Directive. According to the ECJ, the city-card of Stockholm can be viewed as a multi-purpose voucher as mentioned in Article 30a (3) VAT Directive, provided it meets the criteria for a voucher as set in Article 30(1) which is finally to be confirmed by the referring court.
