{"id":3568,"date":"2025-04-22T01:09:25","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T23:09:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/?p=3568"},"modified":"2025-04-22T01:09:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T23:09:25","slug":"vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/","title":{"rendered":"The recent judgment of the CJEU concerns the interpretation of the concept of economic activity and the VAT liability of marital property communities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>C-213\/24 \u2013 Grzera<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>The preparation of land for parcelling, utility installation, and sale constitutes a \u201cpreparatory activity\u201d for VAT purposes, even where the landowners entrust such tasks to a third party. Spouses may jointly act as a taxable person in the form of a \u201ccivil law partnership.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The plaintiffs in the main proceedings are a married couple from Poland, who jointly owned agricultural land as part of their marital community of property. The couple engaged an agency to handle the process of removing the land from agricultural designation, reclassifying it for residential use, parcelling it, installing utilities, and eventually selling the plots as building plots. The agency agreement stipulated a minimum sale price; the agency\u2019s remuneration was calculated as the difference between this minimum and the actual selling price, from which it had to cover its own expenses. The Polish tax authority classified the sale of the building plots as taxable transactions and assessed a VAT liability against the couple. The couple argued that they had not carried out any business activity, merely managed their private assets.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The competent regional court referred the matter to the CJEU for a preliminary ruling to clarify whether, under such circumstances, the couple\u2019s actions constituted an \u201ceconomic activity,\u201d and whether they could jointly act as a taxable person. In its judgment, the CJEU clarified that the concept of economic activity under EU law includes all activities of producers, traders, and service providers, in particular, the exploitation of tangible or intangible property for the purposes of obtaining income therefrom on a continuing basis. In this context, it is relevant that the spouses took \u201csignificant steps towards property sales,\u201d which, by their nature, are to be considered preparatory steps toward a continuous income-generating activity.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Court further noted that \u2013 unless excluded by the terms of the agency agreement \u2013 the ultimate economic risk rests with the property owners, since failure by the agency would prevent the sale of the building plots. Consequently, the couple\u2019s actions formed an integral part of an economic activity subject to VAT. With respect to the issue of joint representation by the spouses, the CJEU pointed out that the EU VAT system recognizes a civil law partnership as an independent taxable person, which may also include a marital property community, provided that the spouses cannot act individually.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>C-213\/24 \u2013 Grzera The preparation of land for parcelling, utility [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[685],"tags":[800,784,801,799],"class_list":["post-3568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecj-judgments","tag-ecj-judgements","tag-ecj-rule","tag-economic-activity","tag-ejc"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The recent judgment of the CJEU concerns the interpretation of the concept of economic activity and the VAT liability of marital property communities - PKF Hungary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"CJEU: Land prep by spouses via agency still counts as economic activity for VAT; they may act jointly as a civil law partnership.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The recent judgment of the CJEU concerns the interpretation of the concept of economic activity and the VAT liability of marital property communities - PKF Hungary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CJEU: Land prep by spouses via agency still counts as economic activity for VAT; they may act jointly as a civil law partnership.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PKF Hungary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PKF.Hungary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-21T23:09:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/EUB_pic-2-1-1024x683.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"N\u00e9meth Szilvia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"N\u00e9meth Szilvia\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"N\u00e9meth Szilvia\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ab1fc0454173a47282a41e7ce9a34efb\"},\"headline\":\"The recent judgment of the CJEU concerns the interpretation of the concept of economic activity and the VAT liability of marital property communities\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-21T23:09:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":409,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/EUB_pic-2-1.png\",\"keywords\":[\"ecj judgements\",\"ecj rule\",\"economic activity\",\"ejc\"],\"articleSection\":[\"ECJ judgments\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\\\/\",\"name\":\"The recent judgment of the CJEU concerns the interpretation of the concept of economic activity and the VAT liability of marital property communities - PKF Hungary\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/EUB_pic-2-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-21T23:09:25+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ab1fc0454173a47282a41e7ce9a34efb\"},\"description\":\"CJEU: Land prep by spouses via agency still counts as economic activity for VAT; they may act jointly as a civil law partnership.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/EUB_pic-2-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/EUB_pic-2-1.png\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2025\\\/04\\\/22\\\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Kezd\u0151lap\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The recent judgment of the CJEU concerns the interpretation of the concept of economic activity and the VAT liability of marital property communities\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"PKF Hungary\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ab1fc0454173a47282a41e7ce9a34efb\",\"name\":\"N\u00e9meth Szilvia\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f8f41f76147f728617759494c39f99b785fad1b814f2fa769fa5faefa11569b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f8f41f76147f728617759494c39f99b785fad1b814f2fa769fa5faefa11569b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/f8f41f76147f728617759494c39f99b785fad1b814f2fa769fa5faefa11569b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"N\u00e9meth Szilvia\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/author\\\/nemeth-szilvia\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The recent judgment of the CJEU concerns the interpretation of the concept of economic activity and the VAT liability of marital property communities - PKF Hungary","description":"CJEU: Land prep by spouses via agency still counts as economic activity for VAT; they may act jointly as a civil law partnership.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The recent judgment of the CJEU concerns the interpretation of the concept of economic activity and the VAT liability of marital property communities - PKF Hungary","og_description":"CJEU: Land prep by spouses via agency still counts as economic activity for VAT; they may act jointly as a civil law partnership.","og_url":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/","og_site_name":"PKF Hungary","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PKF.Hungary\/","article_published_time":"2025-04-21T23:09:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/EUB_pic-2-1-1024x683.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"N\u00e9meth Szilvia","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"N\u00e9meth Szilvia"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/"},"author":{"name":"N\u00e9meth Szilvia","@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/ab1fc0454173a47282a41e7ce9a34efb"},"headline":"The recent judgment of the CJEU concerns the interpretation of the concept of economic activity and the VAT liability of marital property communities","datePublished":"2025-04-21T23:09:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/"},"wordCount":409,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/EUB_pic-2-1.png","keywords":["ecj judgements","ecj rule","economic activity","ejc"],"articleSection":["ECJ judgments"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/","url":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/","name":"The recent judgment of the CJEU concerns the interpretation of the concept of economic activity and the VAT liability of marital property communities - PKF Hungary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/EUB_pic-2-1.png","datePublished":"2025-04-21T23:09:25+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/ab1fc0454173a47282a41e7ce9a34efb"},"description":"CJEU: Land prep by spouses via agency still counts as economic activity for VAT; they may act jointly as a civil law partnership.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/EUB_pic-2-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/EUB_pic-2-1.png","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2025\/04\/22\/vat-preparatory-activity-joint-taxable-person-cjeu\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Kezd\u0151lap","item":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The recent judgment of the CJEU concerns the interpretation of the concept of economic activity and the VAT liability of marital property communities"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/","name":"PKF Hungary","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/ab1fc0454173a47282a41e7ce9a34efb","name":"N\u00e9meth Szilvia","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8f41f76147f728617759494c39f99b785fad1b814f2fa769fa5faefa11569b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8f41f76147f728617759494c39f99b785fad1b814f2fa769fa5faefa11569b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8f41f76147f728617759494c39f99b785fad1b814f2fa769fa5faefa11569b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"N\u00e9meth Szilvia"},"url":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/author\/nemeth-szilvia\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}