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Skatteverket v. Hedqvist (C.J.E.U.)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Redmar Wolf
Redmar Wolf*
Affiliation:
Baker &; McKenzie Amsterdam, Faculty of Law of the VU University Amsterdam District Court of Arnhem-Leeuwarden
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Extract

On October 22, 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rendered its judgment in the case of Skatteverket v. Hedqvist. In this important decision the CJEU sheds light on the value added tax (VAT) aspects of the use of bitcoins. Supplying bitcoins (or better, paying with bitcoins) does not constitute a VAT taxable service, so paying with bitcoins is not a barter transaction. The mere exchange of bitcoins into traditional currency (or vice versa) also remains outside the scope of VAT. The exchange service is VAT exempt.

Type
International Legal Documents
Information
International Legal Materials , Volume 55 , Issue 4 , August 2016 , pp. 720 - 730
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 2016 

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References

Endnotes

1 Case C-264/14, Skatteverket v. Hedqvist (Oct. 22, 2015), http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=9ea7d2dc30d5b0d800cab3874663al568162180efc2c.e34KaxiLc3qMb40Rch0SaxyKa3b0?text=&docid=170305&pagelndex=O&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=first&part=l&cid=423360.

2 Högsta förvaltningsrättens beslut [HFD] [Supreme Administrative Court Decision], 2013 case no. 32-12/I, http://skatterattsnamnden.se/skatterattsnamnden/forhandsbesked/2013/forhandsbesked2013/mervardesskatthandelmedbitcoins.5.46ae6b26141980fle2d29d9.html (Swed.).

3 Case C-172/96, Commissioners of Customs & Excise v. First National Bank of Chicago, 1998 E.C.R. 1-04387.

4 Case C-264/14, Request for a Preliminary Ruling from the Högsta Förvaltningsdomstolen (Swed.)—Skatteverket v. Hedqvist (June 2, 2014), http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?docid=154888&doclang=EN.

5 Case C-264/14, Skatteverket v. Hedqvist, Opinion of Advocate General Kokott (July 16, 2015), http://curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf;jsessionid=9ea7d2dc30d5b0d800cab3874663al568162180efc2c.e34KaxiLc3qMb40RchOSaxyKa3bO?text=&docid=165919&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=lst&dir=&occ=flrst&part=l&cid=423360.

6 Case C-172/96, Commissioners of Customs & Excise v. First National Bank of Chicago, 1998 E.C.R. 1-04387.

7 See Wolf, Redmar, Virtual Currencies, M-Payments and VAT: Ready for the Future?, in Bitcoin and Mobile Payments: Constructing A European Union Framework 231-49 (Gabriella\Gimigliano, ed., 2016)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

* This text was reproduced and reformatted from the text available at the Court of Justice of the European Union website (visited August 1, 2016), http://curia.europa.eu/juris/celex.jsf?celex=62014CJ0264&lang1=en&type=TXT&ancre=.