Will We Overcome the Lawyers This Time?
Discussions on VAT draft law are the time when certain “privileged groups” are to loose their preferences and who will keep theirs for once more.
VAT draft law foresees that legal services be exclude d from the list of goods and service that are exempted from VAT. Lawyers’ reactions are not unexpected. Nevertheless, we are surprised to hear statements such as “we will sue the state in front of international institutions because of the violated right of defense” (good approach from lawyers) and “we are ready for a strike” (unexplainable action from people who should rely strongly on words and arguments in their favor).
How is in Europe?
The table below shows the currents state of affairs in the EU regarding VAT taxation. Out of all 25 member – states, only in two legal services are exempted from VAT and another three have reduced VAT rate in specially defined cases regarding legal profession.
|
Country |
Standard VAT rate |
VAT rate for legal service |
|
Austria |
20 |
20 |
|
Belgium |
21 |
Exempted |
|
Denmark |
25 |
25 |
|
Germany |
16 |
16 |
|
Greece |
19 |
Exempted |
|
Spain |
16 |
16 |
|
France |
19.6 |
19.6 and 5.5 (for legal aid) |
|
Ireland |
21 |
21 |
|
Italy |
20 |
20 |
|
Luxemburg |
15 |
12 |
|
Netherlands |
19 |
19 |
|
Portugal |
21 |
21 % and 5% (for legal aid, labor law related services) |
|
Finland |
22 |
22 |
|
Sweden |
25 |
25 |
|
UK |
17.5 |
17.5 |
|
Czech Republic |
19 |
19 |
|
Estonia |
18 |
18 |
|
Cyprus |
15 |
15 |
|
Latvia |
18 |
18 |
|
Lithuania |
18 |
18 |
|
Hungary |
20 |
20 |
