European Court: Erotic webcam Company must pay VAT in the Netherlands. Providers of erotic webcam services that are based in the Netherlands, but have models outside the Netherlands, must pay sales tax in the country where they are located.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) ruled on Wednesday.
The Court ruled on a case from the Tax Authorities against webcam company Geelen,
which paid no sales tax in the Netherlands between 2006 and 2009.
The Supreme Court held the issue to the ECJ.
In its opinion, the European Court stated that “the services in question must be thought to have been provided at the place of business in the Netherlands“.
Webcam companies based in the Netherlands, aimed at the Dutch market, must, therefore, pay sales tax in the Netherlands.
The European Court adopts the earlier opinion of Advocate General Maciej Szpunar.
In February he already decided that Geelen had to pay sales tax in the Netherlands because the Dutch company employed the models of Geelen.
Geelen arranges live and interactive webcam sessions for a fee and uses models that work from the Philippines. For this,
the models have a computer and a program at their disposal.