The remuneration of the supervisory board of a sports club is not subject to sales tax

10.02.2021

If a member of the supervisory board of a sports club receives remuneration for his work, this is not subject to sales tax. This was decided by the 8th Senate of the Cologne Finance Court in its judgment of November 26, 2020 published today (8 K 2333/18).

As a member of the supervisory board of a sports club, the plaintiff received an annual budget, which he could use for the purchase of season tickets and day tickets, the reimbursement of travel expenses and the purchase of fan merchandise. The tax office assessed the budget used by the plaintiff as remuneration for its work on the supervisory board and charged sales tax for this.

The action brought against this by the plaintiff was successful and led to the annulment of the sales tax assessment. According to the reasons given by the 8th Senate, the plaintiff was not self-employed with his supervisory board activities and therefore not an entrepreneur within the meaning of sales tax law. A member of the supervisory board is only active in an entrepreneurial manner if he carries out his work in his own name and for his own account and bears the associated economic risk. These conditions are not met by the plaintiff.

With its decision, the 8th Senate applies the judgment of the ECJ of 13.09.2019 – C 420/18 on the remuneration of the supervisory board of a Dutch foundation to the remuneration of a German registered association.

The judgment is final. The tax office has not filed the revision to the Federal Fiscal Court in Munich, which was approved for legal training.

Complete decision: 8 K 2333/18

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Norbert Eppers/Bettina Berghoff/Dr. Torsten Rosenke Press spokesman for the Cologne Finance Court Phone: 0221 2066-427 / 445/429 Car: 0160 99252040 E-mail: [email protected]

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