Gemeente Borsele (CJUE, 12 May 2016, case C-520/14)

A municipality which organises school transport using third-party transport companies, and which received contributions, from the parents of (only) certain students, representing merely 3% of the actual transport costs, was found not to be carrying out an economic activity.

According to the Court, the supply of services for consideration, which was first of all considered to have been present in the instant case, is not sufficient for there to be an economic activity.

The Court specified, however, that the existence of an economic activity required the presence of a transaction within the scope of VAT.
In our view, the case can largely be limited to its facts, the Court having been at pains to set out in great detail the conditions of eligibility to benefit from school transport aid.

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