VAT classification of sales from B2C online events

General information on the classification of B2C online events

In principle, the Federal Ministry of Finance continues to classify online event services provided in the B2C sector into four categories:

1. pre-produced content
2. live-streaming
3. commission of services
4. combination of services

Pre-produced content of events is that which is made available digitally by the organisers as a recording. This is an electronically provided other service as defined by section 3a(5) sentence 2 no. 3 of the German VAT Act (UStG). In the case of similar provision to B2C users, the place of supply depends on the recipient’s place of residence.

Live-streaming that is offered alongside or instead of an on-site event, however, is classified as the supply of another service of any educational or entertainment nature. Here, too, the place of supply in B2C cases depends on the recipient’s place of residence. See section 3a(3) no. 3 sentence 2 of the German VAT Act.

A commission of services exists when a taxable person other than the organiser provides live-streaming services or recordings and acts in his own name but for the account of a third party.

But when the provision of a live-stream is combined with a recording, this is classified as a combination of services.

Classification of the combination of services

The assessment of whether a combination of services counts as two independent supplies or a single supply is in future to be based on the general rules on the uniformity of the supply (cf. Section 3.10 of the German VAT Application Decree). With this assessment the Federal Ministry of Finance is returning to its original opinion, which it held before its letter of 29 April 2024. Specifically, the Federal Ministry of Finance considers that classification as a combination of services should be taken from the view of the average consumer and the economic contents of the services in question.

When the scope applies

In terms of time, in its letter on 29 April 2024 the Federal Ministry of Finance still held the opinion that the place of supply for B2C live-streaming services would already be set by the customers’ place of residence starting from 1 July 2024, even though the new statutory provision in section 3a(3) no. 3 of the German VAT Act only came into force on 1 January 2025.
However, in its recent letter of 8 August 2025, the Federal Ministry of Finance has now clarified that this classification only applies to services starting from 1 January 2025. At the same time, it states that in the case of services rendered before 1 January 2026 there is nothing against the supplying entrepreneur applying the rules in the Federal Ministry of Finance letter of 29 April 2024.

Practical note

We recommend all companies affected by this to have their supply of services (re)checked for VAT purposes to ensure that the VAT treatment of the online events they offer is correct.

Although some legal certainty will be lost owing to the adjustments to combinations of services, there is still room to argue your reasoning. For example, a combined offering can be VAT-exempt or taxed at a reduced rate. However, a combined offering at a flat-rate fee will no longer automatically lead to standard taxation.

The EU’s VAT Committee has also been considering the question of where the place of supply is located if the participant can choose between face-to-face event and online event, and the supplier doesn’t know what the participant has decided when issuing the invoice. According to the updated guidelines, in-person participation should be given priority in these cases (place of supply = place of performance). However, if it can later be established that the participant actually took part virtually, the invoice will have to be corrected. To avoid having to make such subsequent adjustments it can be considered, purely for organisational reasons, to have participants commit in advance on whether they are going to participate in person or virtually. Let’s see how it pans out!

_{The article was written in collaboration with Dr Lucas Rapp and Victoria Friedrich.}