Global Tax 50 2014: Skandia

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Global Tax 50 2014: Skandia

ECJ judgement

 Skandia

Skandia is a new entry this year

The ECJ case hinged on the supply by Skandia America Corporation (SAC), a US company without an establishment in the EU, of IT services purchased by SAC from a third party to the company's Swedish branch, Skandia Sverige (SKS), which had joined a Swedish VAT group. VAT was not applied to the costs charged by SAC to SKS, a position disputed by the Swedish tax authorities, and the question was referred to the ECJ. Following the principles of FCE Bank (2006), the taxpayer argued that the supplies from SAC to SKS should be disregarded for VAT purposes as cross-border supplies of services from a company to its EU branch. The ECJ, however, said the services were not a supply from SAC to its branch (SKS), but rather, for VAT purposes, were a supply from SAC to the VAT group to which the branch (SKS) belonged. Therefore the supplies were taxable and the Swedish VAT group of which SKS was a member must account for the VAT due.

The judgement caused huge concern among financial services taxpayers, which benefit from certain VAT exemptions, because of their frequent use of branches to conduct overseas business and of VAT groups to minimise VAT leakage.

There is still a lack of clarity on how member states will apply the ECJ's decision. Some national authorities have issued brief statements pointing out that their VAT grouping rules differ from Swedish VAT grouping rules (as the UK authority did in October) but taxpayers remain in wait-and-see mode. Financial services taxpayers, in particular, will not have welcomed the uncertainty-inducing influence the Skandia case has had during 2014.

The Global Tax 50 2014

View the full list and introduction

Gold tier (ranked in order of influence)

1. Jean-Claude Juncker  2. Pascal Saint-Amans  3. Donato Raponi  4. ICIJ  5. Jacob Lew  6. George Osborne  7. Jun Wang  8. Inverting pharmaceuticals  9. Rished Bade  10. Will Morris


Silver tier (in alphabetic order)

Joaquín AlmuniaAppleJustice Patrick BoyleCTPAJoe HockeyIMFArun JaitleyMarius KohlTizhong LiaoKosie LouwPierre MoscoviciMichael NoonanWolfgang SchäubleAlgirdas ŠemetaRobert Stack


Bronze tier (in alphabetic order)

Shinzo AbeAlberto ArenasPiet BattiauMonica BhatiaBitcoinBonoWarren BuffettECJ TranslatorsEurodadHungarian protestorsIndian Special Investigation Team (SIT)Chris JordanArmando Lara YaffarMcKessonPatrick OdierOECD printing facilitiesPier Carlo PadoanMariano RajoyNajib RazakAlex SalmondSkandiaTax Justice NetworkEdward TroupMargrethe VestagerHeinz Zourek

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

Reckitt Benckiser is to divest its Essential Home business, which includes more than 70 brands, to private equity firm Advent International
In the first of a new series of weekly opinion pieces, ITR Editor Tom Baker reflects on the OECD’s attempts to sanitise the US’s brazen pillar two negotiations
The threat of 50% tariffs on Brazilian goods coincides with new Brazilian legal powers to adopt retaliatory economic measures, local experts tell ITR
The country’s chancellor appears to have backtracked from previous pillar two scepticism; in other news, Donald Trump threatened Russia with 100% tariffs
In its latest G20 update, the OECD also revealed tense discussions with the US where the ‘significant threat’ of Section 899 was highlighted
The tax agency has increased compliance yield from wealthy individuals but cannot identify how much tax is paid by UK billionaires, the committee also claimed
Saffery cautioned that documentation requirements in new government proposals must be limited if medium-sized companies are not exempted from TP
The global minimum tax deal is not viable without US participation, Friedrich Merz has argued
Section 899 of the ‘one big beautiful’ bill would have spelled disaster for many international investors into the US, but following its shelving, attention turns to the fate of the OECD’s pillars
DLA Piper’s co-head of tax for the US and Latin America tells ITR about her fervent belief in equal access to the law, loving yoga, and paternal inspirations
Gift this article