VAT chargeability of football intermediaries’ commissions in EU Law, in the light of the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement

This article discusses the Value-Added Tax (VAT) discipline relating to the representation services offered by football intermediaries in the contractual negotiation of the employment contract between the player and the club(s). The analysis is carried out taking into consideration the relevant legislative provisions of European Union (EU) law as well as the case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the findings of the EU VAT Committee. The VAT discipline of representation services provided by football intermediaries is first analyzed in light of the EU legislative acts regulating the different legal figures of intermediation contracts and the effects on the EU internal market. Then, the legal nature of the “intermediation commission”—as the VAT chargeable event—and the “place of supply of the intermediation service”—as the place of taxation—as qualified by EU tax law, are studied. Finally, the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) provisions regarding VAT chargeability of intermediation services are analyzed. The article concludes arguing that, at the moment, it does not seem that the TCA has specifically reformed the regulation of the VAT chargeability of the intermediation commission received by football agents for their representation services in negotiating an employment contract between the player and the club(s).