Brief 22/12: services connected to land

Basic ethos for B2B transactions

The 2010 basic rule for business-to-business (B2B) cross-border transactions in services brings a commonsense approach with a much wider use of the reverse charge with the majority of such transactions now being taxed where the recipient is established thus significantly reducing the number of 8th Directive VAT refund claims filed by EU businesses to recoup overseas VAT on costs such as work on goods management services – a useful improvement to cashflows for some businesses. However exclusions clearly still apply and these include land-related services which are taxed where the land is situated. Land is not defined in legislation but is essentially a supply of any defined area of land or...