La venta de contratos de reaseguro sujeta y no exenta a IVA, según el TJCE

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The European Court of Justice on October 22 issued its judgment in Swiss Re Germany Holding GmbH v. Finanzamt München für Körperschaften (C-242/08), holding that VAT is due on the sale of reinsurance contracts. The ruling marks a reversal of usual industry practice and may have a major negative impact on the cash flow of those selling reinsurance and insurance contracts.

The case centered on the sale of reinsurance contracts by Swiss Re, a German company, to another company established in Switzerland that belonged to the same corporate group. At the time, the German tax authorities considered the transaction a supply of service subject to a 19 percent German VAT.

In his May 13 opinion in the case, Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi wrote that the transfer of a reinsurance contract in some cases does not qualify as an insurance transaction for the purposes of articles 9 and 13 of the Sixth VAT Directive but rather is a supply of services and is not VAT-exempt.

The ECJ agreed with Mengozzi's opinion, holding in favor of the German tax authorities that the sale of reinsurance contracts is not an exempt supply and that VAT is payable. Because the ECJ is the final court of appeal on European VAT issues, its judgment means that this new interpretation applies to all EU member states.
This is hugely important, as the insurance industry has been for the most part treating this as a tax-exempt supply. Also, the decision may not be limited to reinsurance and could be interpreted as applying to insurance and other contracts.
The insurance industry is advised to urgently review the structuring of any relevant sales, including past transactions that may be caught in this new ruling.
Fuente: Tax Analysts
Fuente en españa: http://spanishtaxes.blogspot.com