Advocate General Kokott has given an opinion in the case Brockenhurst College.
Kokott proposes the following answers to the questions referred for a preliminary ruling by the Court of Appeal:
(1) Closely related transactions within the meaning of Article 132(1) of the VAT Directive are independent supplies, the taxation of which also increases the cost of access to supplies that as such are exempt from tax. They do not include the supply of restaurant and entertainment services by an educational establishment to paying members of the public who are not recipients of the educational services that are exempt from tax.
(2) For the differentiation it is relevant (and militates against the existence of the exemption) that the persons benefiting from the exemption contribute to what is provided to other consumers. It is also relevant that the third parties pay for their own consumption, that is to say, not for the provision of education to the students. Finally, it is also relevant that the supplies to the third parties — both from the perspective of the third parties and the students — pursue an independent objective (providing for third parties) that is pursued alongside the educational objective that continues to be exempt from tax.
0