Insights

Dutch Supreme Court Sends Key VAT Questions on Real Estate to the CJEU

Richard Meerstra 28 Nov 2025

An overview by Borgen Tax, Taxand Netherlands

The Dutch Supreme Court has recently referred two important VAT questions on real estate transactions to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). The answers, and the reasoning behind them, could significantly affect Dutch real estate VAT rules:

• Can the transfer of a going concern (TOGC) regime apply to transactions that would otherwise be VAT exempt?
• Is the seller’s intention relevant when applying the TOGC rules?

The Court also found that a key exemption in the EU VAT Directive has not been correctly implemented in the Netherlands. Based on the Court’s interpretation, the sale of property that has been used exclusively for VAT exempt activities should itself be VAT exempt, regardless of when the property was first brought into use. This challenges long-standing Dutch rules that treat transfers of newly developed property as VAT taxed within two years of first use, and it may also affect real estate transfer tax (RETT).

Richard Meerstra from our Dutch member firm Borgen Tax has published an analysis of these decisions, which can be read here.

Article tags

Case Law | EU | Netherlands | Real Estate Tax | Tax | VAT