C-7/13 Skandiamålet : En analys av hur Skandiamålet påverkar art. 11 mervärdesskattedirektivet angående mervärdesskattegrupper

Sammanfattning: In September 2014 the ECJ issued its decision in C-7/13 the Skandia case. The case con- cerned service transactions made between a main establishment in a third country and its Swedish branch. The branch was a member of a VAT group in Sweden. The ECJ estab- lished that the membership resulted in that the VAT group was considered as one taxable person which meant that the services was considered provided to the group itself and not the separate member. Therefore the transactions were deemed taxable. The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the ECJ’s assessment and judgment of the Skandia case, and how the decision affect art. 11 of the VAT Directive about VAT groups. The art. 11 of the VAT Directive provides a possibility for Member States of the EU to in- troduce rules that makes it possible for more than one person, if they meet certain criteria, to qualify as a single taxable person. In Sweden, these rules are implemented in chapter 6 a of the Swedish VAT Law. The rules on VAT groups have been further developed and in- terpreted by case law from the ECJ. The thesis shows that the Skandia case confirms some of the principles from previous case law, and develops new principles for the application of art. 11 of the VAT Directive. We draw the conclusion that the development of the law in relation to the ECJ's decision in the Skandia case, indicates that art. 11 of the VAT Directive should be assessed independently and not be influenced by other articles of the VAT Directive. We also believe that the Skandia case suggest that the territorial limitation of art. 11 means that a person must be physically established in a Member State to be able to be a member of a VAT group in that Member State. Finally, we draw the conclusion that the Skandia case indicates that the ECJ has taken inspiration from the international co-operation organ OECD. Such development is interesting because a correlation between these two organs would lead to a greater pre- dictability and legal certainty on an international level.