1.6 Research method and structure

Because this research focuses on EU VAT, I will take the provisions of the EU VAT Directive and other EU VAT rules, as well as the interpretation of those provisions by the CJEU, as a first point of reference. Because of the fact that the EU VAT Directive is transposed into the national law of all EU Member States and because the relevant rules are applied and interpreted by taxable persons, tax authorities, courts and other parties, I will make reference to local rules and regulations where I have deemed this appropriate. Given the fact that most of the CJEU cases regarding the VAT treatment of voucher transactions as well as other promotional activities were referrals from UK courts, I will use the UK as a local reference country. Also, the UK tax authorities (Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs) have published a lot of guidance on the VAT treatment of these transactions. I have also chosen the Netherlands as a country for local reference, because of its rich tradition of academic research and publications on VAT and also because the Netherlands has a thriving market for vouchers, tokens, coupons and similar instruments. Therefore, when looking at the specific application of VAT rules regarding voucher transactions and promotional activities, I will mainly rely on the relevant VAT rules and regulations as applicable in the Netherlands and the UK. Besides using the EU VAT rules and regulations as well as CJEU case law as a referencing system, I will also make reference to international literature on the topic of value added taxation in order to ensure that I take account of as many relevant viewpoints and (possible) building blocks for answering the research questions as possible.

I have divided the research into specific types of promotional activities that I will examine, using the above referencing system and research framework to answer the research questions that are relevant to those specific promotional activities.