{"id":4002,"date":"2026-03-19T11:16:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T10:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/?p=4002"},"modified":"2026-03-19T11:16:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T10:16:01","slug":"cjeu-vat-concept-voucher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2026\/03\/19\/cjeu-vat-concept-voucher\/","title":{"rendered":"The CJEU Interprets the VAT concept of a voucher"},"content":{"rendered":"

C-436\/24 \u2013 Lyko Operations AB<\/strong><\/p>\n

Points granted upon purchase, which may only be redeemed for low-value goods in the context of a subsequent purchase and are otherwise non-transferable and not capable of circulation, do not qualify as \u201cvouchers\u201d for VAT purposes.<\/em><\/p>\n

The plaintiff is a Swedish company engaged in the sale of beauty products, both in-store and online. Under its customer loyalty programme, customers receive points which may be redeemed for low-value products in a separate \u201cpoints redemption shop\u201d, provided that a purchase is also made in that shop. The points cannot be redeemed for cash, are non-transferable, and cannot be used in a manner whereby any shortfall in the price of the product is settled in cash. Points expire if not used within two years. The claimant sought an advance ruling from the Swedish Tax Law Commission, which confirmed that, under these circumstances, the points do not qualify as \u201cvouchers\u201d within the meaning of the VAT system. However, the Swedish tax authority disagreed and challenged the ruling before the courts. The request for a preliminary ruling before the CJEU was submitted by the Swedish Supreme Administrative Court.<\/p>\n

In its judgment, the CJEU emphasised that, in this arrangement, the points do not constitute an independent means of payment but merely entitle their holders, where they decide to make a further purchase, to obtain additional low-value products as a bonus. Consequently, the points in question do not qualify as \u201cvouchers\u201d for VAT purposes, as the conceptual requirement that they must be accepted as consideration, or part consideration, for a supply of goods or services is not fulfilled.<\/p>\n

Full English text of the judgement<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

C-436\/24 \u2013 Lyko Operations AB Points granted upon purchase, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":4001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[685],"tags":[802,841,688,973,974],"class_list":["post-4002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecj-judgments","tag-cjeu","tag-cjeu-judgements","tag-ecj-en-2","tag-vat-vat-concept","tag-voucher"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe CJEU Interprets the VAT concept of a voucher - PKF Hungary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The CJEU ruled that loyalty points are not VAT vouchers if they can only be redeemed with a new purchase.\" \/>\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\/2026\/03\/19\/cjeu-vat-concept-voucher\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The CJEU Interprets the VAT concept of a voucher - PKF Hungary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The CJEU ruled that loyalty points are not VAT vouchers if they can only be redeemed with a new purchase.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/en\/2026\/03\/19\/cjeu-vat-concept-voucher\/\" \/>\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=\"2026-03-19T10:16:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pkf.hu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/EUB_pic-2-1024x683.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\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/cjeu-vat-concept-voucher\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/cjeu-vat-concept-voucher\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"N\u00e9meth Szilvia\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ab1fc0454173a47282a41e7ce9a34efb\"},\"headline\":\"The CJEU Interprets the VAT concept of a voucher\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-19T10:16:01+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/cjeu-vat-concept-voucher\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":280,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/en\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/19\\\/cjeu-vat-concept-voucher\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/pkf.hu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/EUB_pic-2.png\",\"keywords\":[\"cjeu\",\"cjeu judgements\",\"ECJ\",\"VAT. 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