Vítor Loureiro e Silva and Francisco Lencastre Torres wrote the article "Is the secondment of staff subject to VAT in Portugal? ’, published in the International Tax Review.

In this article, the VdA lawyers analyse the differences between the position of the Portuguese Tax Authority (AT) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) regarding the application of VAT in these cases.

Vítor Loureiro e Silva and Francisco Lencastre Torres explain that these differences force taxpayers to choose between following the CJEU's interpretation, which considers the secondment of staff to be a supply of services subject to VAT, even if the remuneration for this service corresponds to the exact reimbursement of expenses incurred by the employee's company, and the AT's position, which only considers this secondment to be subject to VAT if there is remuneration that exceeds the reimbursed costs.

The VdA lawyers believe that this uncertainty may lead taxpayers to resort more frequently to alternative contractual figures such as employment contracts with multiple employers.

• This article is available for consultation here.