VAT on television services : comments of the French Council of State on complex supplies

In its decision No. 488974 of July 23, 2024, the French Council of State rejects the challenge of the company Groupe Canal + SA against the administrative comments on the scope of the art. 257 ter of the French General Tax Code (CGI).

Published in the Official bulletin of Public Finances (BOFiP) on August 23, 2023, the comments concern the criteria for distinguishing between operations composed of several independent supplies subject to their own VAT rates and a single complex supply which elements are taxable at the VAT rate of the predominant one.

The dispute mainly concerns TV subscriptions subject to the reduced VAT rate of 10% in France. It results from the decision of the Council of State that replay TV services cannot be automatically considered as ancillary elements of a single complex supply on the sole presumption of their essential and intrinsic link with the main television service.

It is recalled that:

the classification of an ancillary service can only result from considering all the circumstances in which the transaction takes place,

in accordance with the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (case. C-581/19 of 03/24/2021) which is at the origin of the art. 257 ter of the French General Tax Code.

This decision is important for identifying the VAT rate applicable to complex supplies in all business sectors.

Companies must take into account all the criteria and administrative comments which should be shortly updated in the BOFiP.