Property lease contract with purchase option (leasing) – Qualification as delivery of goods or provision of services

The qualification of a lease contract for goods with an option to purchase as a delivery of goods or as a provision of services depends on whether or not the lessee has undertaken to exercise the purchase option. In accordance with the provisions of Articles 8.Two.5 and 11.Two.2, transactions arising from a financial lease, in which there is no commitment on the part of the lessee to exercise the purchase option, must be classified as the provision of services; they are only classified as the supply of goods from the time the lessee undertakes to exercise the purchase option. The criterion indicated by the VAT Law does not fully correspond to the one that can be deduced from Directive 2006/112/EC (VAT Directive 2006/112/EC). Directive 2006/112/EC (Article 14) and the case law of the CJEU in this regard (judgment of October 4, 2017, case of of 4 October 2017, Case C-164/16, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services), according to which, the financial terms of the contract are what determine whether it qualifies as a supply of goods or a supply of services. as a delivery of goods or as a provision of services. Reiterates criterion of decision of June 9, 1999 (RG: 00-07136-1996).

Source: audiconsultores-etlglobal.com

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