- Raising and collecting donations not an economic activity

 

"[29] In this respect, it must be found that, in raising and collecting donations and endowments, the University of Cambridge is not acting as a taxable person. In order to be considered to be a taxable person, a person must carry out economic activities, that is to say activities for consideration. As the donations and endowments — which are essentially made for subjective reasons on charitable grounds and on a random basis — are not consideration for any economic activity, the raising and collection of them do not fall within the scope of the VAT Directive (see, to that effect, judgment of 3 March 1994, Tolsma, C‑16/93, EU:C:1994:80, paragraphs 17 to 19). As is apparent from paragraph 24 above, it follows that the input VAT paid in respect of any costs incurred in connection with the collection of donations and endowments is not deductible, regardless of the reason why those donations and endowments were received." (University of Cambridge C-316/18)

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