The ordering of ready meals to the company's headquarters for the purpose of organising, for example, conferences with counterparties entitles to deduct VAT – this is the result of the interpretation of the National Tax Information Director of the day 5 January 2018 (The signature. 0115-KDIT1-2.4012.800.2017.1.AJ).
The applicant for interpretation is an IT company. He regularly arranges meetings at his premises with contractors for which he orders ready meals from the outside company. However, their delivery does not involve any additional services of the catering company (such as table covering or cleaning). The applicant wanted to be informed whether it would be possible to deduct VAT on the purchase of ready-to-eat food.
The Director of National Tax Information considered that the delivery of a meal not combined with ancillary services should be regarded as a supply of goods rather than as a catering service. For this reason, the company is entitled to deduct VAT.
According to Article 88(1)(4) VAT laws do not have the right to deduct the input VAT if the costs of catering services are covered. The key element of the interpretation was to assess whether the order of the finished meal to the company's premises could be considered such a service.
The Director of National Tax Information pointed out that the Goods and Services Tax Act does not define the concept of catering services or the concept of catering services. Both categories are not equivalent. It is therefore necessary to refer to the dictionary meaning of both concepts.
The catering service consists of preparing and serving a meal at the place where it was prepared (e.g. in a restaurant). Catering means delivering prepared dishes to the place designated by the contracting authority.
The Director of National Tax Information considered that the delivery of a meal not combined with ancillary services should be regarded as a supply of goods rather than as a catering service. For this reason, the company is entitled to deduct VAT.
At the same time, it should be stressed that the interpretation does not determine what would be the question of the possibility of deducting VAT if the food order were combined with on-site service (e.g. table-tops, dishes, etc.)