One thing in advance: Internal services are not taxable for VAT groups, even according to the ECJ

German legal practice, according to which transactions between members of a VAT group are to be treated as non-taxable internal transactions, which had previously been taken for granted, was put to the test. As a result of a series of referral proceedings initiated by the Federal Fiscal Court, the ECJ had it in its hands whether the VAT group would be downgraded from a significant structuring instrument to a mere administrative reporting simplification and thus de facto abolished (see Forster/Striegl, MwStR 2024, 465). Fortunately, the ECJ provided relief with its most recent ruling of 11.07.2024, C-184/23 (S/FA T), according to which internal supplies within a VAT group do not fall within the scope of the VAT System Directive. This article provides an overview of the three most recent preliminary ruling proceedings on this topic.