VAT: A new dawn for fiscal neutrality?

On 10 November 2011 the EU Court of Justice handed down its eagerly anticipated judgement on two cases referred by the UK courts involving the Rank Group plc and Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The disputes arose in the context of gaming activities, namely bingo and slot machines, and raised significant questions over the application of the principle of fiscal neutrality. The EU Court of Justice ruled that, where two gaming services are comparable from the point of view of the average customer and meet the same needs of that customer, under the principle of fiscal neutrality, they must be regarded as similar and receive the same treatment for VAT purposes. Whilst the decision has obvious implications for the interpretation of the gambling exemption, it will most likely also have far more reaching implications for the application of the principle of fiscal neutrality to VAT exemptions more generally, as well as to other areas of the tax such as rates’ structures.