Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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Tax provisions - Harmonization of laws - Turnover tax - Common system of value added tax - Supply of services for consideration - Definition - Musical performance on the public highway giving rise to payments on a voluntary basis of money in an unquantified amount - Excluded

(Council Directive 77/388/EEC, Art. 2(1))

Summary

A supply of services is effected "for consideration" within the meaning of Article 2(1) of the Sixth Council Directive (77/388) on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes, and hence is taxable, only if there is a legal relationship between the provider of the service and the recipient pursuant to which there is reciprocal performance, the remuneration received by the provider of the service constituting the value actually given in return for the service supplied to the recipient.

Those conditions are not fulfilled in the case of an activity consisting in playing music on the public highway, for which no remuneration is stipulated, even if the musician solicits money and receives sums, in the form of donations, whose amount is however neither quantified nor quantifiable.