As a provider of digital educational services, since July 2024 you can no longer claim VAT exemption for your pre-produced, automated video courses, apps, learning platforms and recorded live content.

The reason for this is a letter from the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) from April 2024, which has caused - and continues to cause - a lot of uproar in the tax world.

You must then calculate the turnover you have generated with a Combination of live lessons and recording treat them as taxable as a whole! (It is not possible to split this into tax-free live teaching and taxable retrieval of recordings). You can only avoid this by charging a separate fee for retrieving the recording.

But that's all over now!

In a new letter from August 2025, the BMF has rowed back ...

... so that the Benefit combination completely tax-free again can remain. Remuneration alone should no longer be the decisive factor. Instead, each individual case must be examined,

• whether there is a single service or two separate services and
• whether the tax exemption for educational or medical treatment services is applicable.

So there are still plenty of pitfalls lurking for training providers!

👉 We can show you how to set up your online course offerings in the best possible way for VAT purposes - contact us. We will be happy to assist you and help you with your tax questions and concerns: www.wsb-berater.com/kontakt

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