The VAT treatment of the management of pension funds and the recovery of associated input VAT has become very much a hot topic in recent years. A number of cases have been referred to the CJEU. The Wheels case, concerning the potential application of the VAT exemption for the management of special investment funds to occupational defined benefit pension schemes, may have gone against the taxpayer, but the CJEU has another chance to consider the potential application of the VAT exemption in the Danish reference, ATP PensionService v Skatteministeriet (C-464/12). The advocate general’s opinion in this case suggests that the management of defined contribution pension schemes should qualify for VAT exemption in appropriate cases.
