Георги Ранчев
Abstract: Real estate and investment in immovable property are one of the structurally important sectors of the world economy, the European Union and Bulgaria. The vast variety of situations related to the development, acquisition, transfer, use and handling of different types of real estate sometimes leads to controversial treatments and disputes with the revenue authorities especially when applying the current VAT legislation. Having this in mind it is not a huge surprise that the intensity and deepness of the tax (VAT) control on real estate transactions is of highest priority for the tax authorities in the European Union member states and for the revenue part of the budgets of these countries as a whole. Subject to the present article are the main provisions of the VAT legislation within the European Union and Bulgaria, as the main focus are the basic definitions relevant to the tax (in this case VAT) treatment of supplies of real estate on the basis of the European Union VAT legal framework (regulations and directives) as well as pursuant to the Bulgarian VAT legislation. A brief overview of the hottest VAT cases is made at the end of the article based on some of the most aggressive interpretations of the VAT legislation by the revenue authorities as well as on the grounds of recent decisions of the European Court of Justice and the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court. It could be expected that part of these hot VAT topics will soon widely affect the practice of the tax authorities and upcoming changes in the respective VAT legislation could be anticipated.
Key words: VAT; VAT on real estate transactions; European VAT legislation; VAT taxation; VAT control
Сваляне на пълния текст в PDF формат