AXA Case: The VAT Treatment of “Debt Collection”

The European Court of Justice has held in the AXA case that the payment handling services provided by Denplan do not benefit from the VAT exemption laid down in Art. 135(1)(d) of the VAT Directive. In this article, the authors analyse the Court’s decision in the AXA case and conclude that this decision leaves taxpayers with uncertainty rather than with clear answers as to how to treat their services for VAT purposes.