The EU VAT and the Expansion of Turnover Taxation: Interfering Tax Systems?

In this article, the author provides a critical analysis of the ECJ’s approach and attempts to explore how the scope of the concept “turnover taxes”, for the purposes of article 401 of the VAT Directive, could be defined in a way that ensures that the provision is applied in accordance with its objective, which is to safeguard the goals of the common VAT system from interference by other domestic taxes. The author argues that in light of the narrow interpretation of turnover taxes in the ECJ’s case law, it is unlikely that the introduction of recent turnover-based business taxes would be prohibited by the VAT Directive.