TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1999 (9) TMI 943
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.... Belfast, referred to the Court for a preliminary ruling under Article 177 of the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) two questions on the interpretation of Article 13A(1)(b) and (g) of the Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes - Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1, 'the Sixth Directive'). 2. The questions were raised in proceedings between Mr and Mrs Gregg and the Commissioners of Customs & Excise ('the Commissioners'), who are responsible for collecting value added tax ('VAT') in the United Kingdom, concerning application of a VAT exemption provided for in Schedule 9, Group 7, it....
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....tions comparable to those applicable to bodies governed by public law, by hospitals, centres for medical treatment or diagnosis and other duly recognised establishments of a similar nature; ... (g) the supply of services and of goods closely linked to welfare and social security work including those supplied by old people's homes, by bodies governed by public law or by other organisations recognised as charitable by the Member State concerned.' The dispute in the main proceedings and questions referred to the Court 5. Mr and Mrs Gregg, who are in business as a partnership under the law of Northern Ireland, run a nursing home there called the 'Glenview Nursing Home', comprising 17 bedrooms and communal areas. The ....
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....cided to stay proceedings and refer the following questions to the Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling: '1. Is Article 13A(1) of the Sixth Directive to be interpreted as meaning that two natural persons (i.e. individuals) who carry on business in common as partners cannot claim exemption under subparagraph (b) in the circumstances summarised in the schedule to these questions and on the assumptions that (a) the business consists of medical care and closely related activities and (b) they are "duly recognised" and their activities are of a similar nature to those provided by "hospitals" and/or "centres for medical treatment or diagnosis"? In particular, are the partners excluded from exemption be....
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....hen, in so far as Article 13A(1) refers to 'establishment' or 'organisation', it must be interpreted as covering only legal and not natural persons. 11. The United Kingdom, German and Netherlands Governments and the Commission contend that neither the literal meaning of the terms 'establishment' or 'organisation' nor the strict interpretation that must be given to the exemptions referred to in Article 13 of the Sixth Directive can have as a necessary consequence that the legal form in which the taxable person concerned carries on his business constitutes a determining factor in deciding whether or not the activities carried on by him are taxable. The principle of fiscal neutrality would preclude confining ....
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....A(1) of the Sixth Directive mentions different categories of economic operators that the exemptions provided for in that provision are confined to legal persons where it refers expressly to activities undertaken by 'establishments' or 'organisations', whilst in other cases an exemption may also be claimed by natural persons. 16. That interpretation is not affected by the fact that, as the Court held in Bulthuis-Griffioen, cited (supra) above, at paragraphs 18 and 19, the specific conditions concerning the status or identity of the economic operator performing the services covered by the exemption are to be interpreted strictly. 17. The terms 'establishment' and 'organisation' are in principle sufficient....