European Court of Justice Issues Advocate General Opinion on German Ancillary Hotel Service VAT Rules

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) Sept. 25 issued an Advocate General opinion for Joined Case Nos. C 409/24 to C 411/24, on German VAT rules for ancillary hotel services. The taxpayers, hotel and guesthouse operators providing short-term accommodation services, applied a 7 percent reduced VAT rate to both the principal accommodation supply, and to related services, like breakfast, parking, Wi-Fi, and fitness facilities. The German tax authorities determined that the ancillary services should be taxed at the standard 19 percent VAT rate. Upon request for a preliminary ruling, the Advocate General opined that Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system ...