New German tax court case about the fixed establishment concept for VAT purposes

The German Federal Tax Court issued a decision on a ‘fixed establishment’ for VAT purposes ( ECLI: DE: BFH: 2020: U.290420.XIR3.18.0 ). The case concerned a German business consultant who provides services in third countries on behalf of non-business customers. The question was whether an office building and employee, which have been made available to the consultant during his business trips abroad, must be regarded as fixed establishments in the third countries for VAT purposes. If so, and if the consulting services being provided must be allocated to such a fixed establishment, the consultant is not obliged to charge German VAT.