{"id":3650,"date":"2026-11-05T12:34:19","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T11:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sgtax.it\/?p=3650"},"modified":"2026-11-05T12:41:03","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T11:41:03","slug":"equipment-provided-suppliers-free-charge-does-not-automatically-trigger-vat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sgtax.it\/en\/equipment-provided-suppliers-free-charge-does-not-automatically-trigger-vat\/","title":{"rendered":"Equipment provided to suppliers free of charge does not automatically trigger VAT"},"content":{"rendered":"

A business makes moulds and equipment available to its supplier free of charge to manufacture the components it needs. Whether VAT applies depends on the purpose of the arrangement and how the assets are actually used.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In its judgment of 4 November 2026 in Case T-680\/25, Mercedes-Benz<\/strong>, the General Court of the European Union addresses an arrangement frequently encountered in manufacturing supply chains, whereby equipment owned by the customer is used by other operators to manufacture components for that customer\u2019s production activities.<\/p>\n

The key question is whether making the equipment available free of charge serves the needs of the business or purposes unrelated to its activities. The latter may give rise to a deemed supply of services for consideration under Article 26 of the VAT Directive.<\/p>\n

In the case examined, such treatment was ruled out <\/strong>because the components manufactured using the equipment were used exclusively by the vehicle manufacturer that had made it available.<\/p>\n

This also applies where an intermediary operates between the component manufacturer and the equipment owner. The absence of a direct invoicing relationship is not decisive<\/strong>: what matters is the actual use of the components and the business purpose served by the arrangement.<\/p>\n

The judgment therefore clarifies that a business\u2019s interests may also be served through a supply chain involving several operators<\/strong>. The presence of an intermediary does not, in itself, mean that equipment made available free of charge is being used for purposes unrelated to its owner\u2019s business. This principle is relevant when assessing VAT treatment in light of how production is actually organised.<\/p>\n

Read the Judgment<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A business makes moulds and equipment available to its supplier free of charge to manufacture the components it needs. Whether VAT applies depends on the purpose of the arrangement and how the assets are actually used. In its judgment of 4 November 2026 in Case T-680\/25, Mercedes-Benz, the General Court of the European Union addresses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tax-pills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtax.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtax.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtax.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtax.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtax.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3650"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtax.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3657,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtax.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3650\/revisions\/3657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtax.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtax.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sgtax.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}