Deduction for input VAT in connection with sale of real property
Supreme Court judgment 14 October 2021, HR-2021-2025-A, (case no. 21-018532SIV-HRET), civil case, appeal against judgment.
The Tax Appeals Board (Counsel Finn Backer-Grøndahl) v. The State represented by the Ministry of Finance (The Office of the Attorney General represented by Ole Kristian Rigland) (Assistant counsel Nils Sture Nilsson)
Justices: Indreberg, Matheson, Ringnes, Bergh, Høgetveit Berg
In five administrative decisions, the Tax Appeals Board had allowed deduction for input VAT on procurement of advisory services in connection with tax-exempt sales of real property, see section 8-1 of the VAT Act. One of the sales was part of a complex transaction, involving a sale of the property, a right for the seller to lease the existing buildings and a right to lease new offices that the buyer was obliged to build. The other sales involved properties that had been used in voluntarily registered rental activities, and that were sold during the liquidation of the registered enterprise. The Supreme Court found, like the previous instances, that there was no basis for deduction of VAT on the relevant advisory services, as they were not sufficiently connected with the sellers’ taxable enterprise. The appeal against the Court of Appeal’s judgment was dismissed.