Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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Tax provisions - Harmonization of legislation - Turnover taxes - Common system of value added tax - Taxable persons - Concept - Holding company whose sole purpose is to acquire financial holdings - Exclusion

(Council Directive 77/388/EEC, Arts 4 and 17)

Summary

Article 4 of the Sixth Council Directive (77/388/EEC) of 17 May 1977, on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes - Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment, must be interpreted as meaning that a holding company whose sole purpose is to acquire holdings in other undertakings, without involving itself directly or indirectly in the management of those undertakings, without prejudice to its rights as shareholder, does not have the status of a taxable person for the purposes of value added tax and therefore has no right to deduct tax under Article 17 of the Sixth Directive. The fact that the holding company belongs to a world-wide group of undertakings, which appears outwardly under a single name, is not relevant to the company' s classification as a taxable person for the purposes of value added tax.