Advanced Consumption Taxation

CB1. Command of the general value added tax regime: scope, exemptions, taxable amount, rates, right of deduction and obligations of taxable persons (first-cycle Taxation / VAT courses or equivalent professional experience).

CB2. Knowledge of the structure of the Portuguese tax system and of the sources of tax law, including the interaction between domestic law and European Union law.

CB3. Instrumental competence in searching for and reading tax legislation, administrative doctrine and case law.

The methodology is based on two interrelated phases: a first one, providing the general framework of consumption taxation under VAT, excise duties and the RITI, as well as of e-commerce; and a second one, analysing the special regimes through the preparation and discussion of practical cases in the classroom.

ME1. Interactive lectures: structured presentation of the principles, of the general framework and of the legal regime, with directed student participation (supports OA1, OA2, OA3).

ME2. Joint elaboration method: solving and discussing, in class, practical VAT and RITI classification cases, with shared construction of the solution from the legal text (supports OA3, OA4, OA5, OA6).

ME3. Analysis of case law and administrative doctrine: guided reading and discussion of judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union, arbitration decisions and binding rulings of the Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority (supports OA6, OA7, CD2, CD3).

ME4. Research-based method: preparation, presentation and oral defence of a synthesis assignment on a topic proposed by the lecturer, establishing the link with professional practice (supports OA4, OA7, CD3, CD4; linked to MA1 and MA2).

ME5. Tutorial guidance: monitoring of the assignment stages and clarification of doubts, at times announced by the lecturer.

On successful completion of this course unit, the student will be able to:

OA1. Identify the principles and connecting factors that give rise to consumption taxation and distinguish the role of value added tax and of excise duties within the Portuguese and European Union tax structure.

OA2. Frame intra-Community transactions within the general regime and the special regimes laid down in the VAT Regime on Intra-Community Transactions (RITI) and determine the corresponding reporting obligations.

OA3. Apply the place-of-supply rules for goods and for services and determine the Member State entitled to tax a given transaction.

OA4. Characterise and apply the special VAT regimes, appraising the conditions for access, continuance and cessation of each one and their reporting consequences.

OA5. Apply the VAT rules to e-commerce in goods and services, including the operation of the one-stop shops (OSS and IOSS) and the role of electronic interfaces.

OA6. Solve practical VAT and RITI classification cases, grounding the solution in the legal text, in administrative doctrine and in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

OA7. Assess the impact of the ongoing changes to the common VAT system, namely the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package and the cross-border small enterprises regime, on businesses and practitioners.

Competences to be developed:

CD1. Technical application: mobilise the Portuguese VAT Code, the RITI, the VAT Directive and complementary legislation in solving concrete classification problems.

CD2. Critical thinking: identify borderline situations and instances of double taxation or non-taxation and weigh duly reasoned alternative solutions.

CD3. Applied research: search for, read and interpret CJEU and national case law, binding rulings and specialised literature.

CD4. Professional communication: produce rigorous technical opinions and reports and present and defend conclusions orally before demanding audiences.

CD5. Ethics and professional responsibility: distinguish legitimate tax planning from abusive practices and recognise the duties of the certified accountant in complying with VAT obligations.

P1. Introduction to consumption taxation – principles and connecting factors in consumption taxation: destination and origin principles; neutrality and the input tax credit mechanism; the structure of consumption taxation in Portugal and in the European Union: VAT and excise duties (IEC); the common VAT system, Directive 2006/112/EC and its recent developments.

P2. VAT regime on intra-Community transactions (RITI) – general characterisation: objective and subjective scope, chargeable event and chargeability, taxable amount, exemptions for intra-Community supplies and reporting obligations (recapitulative statement and the VIES system); special rules: acquisitions by exempt taxable persons and by non-taxable persons; new means of transport; goods subject to excise duty; triangular transactions; transfers of goods and the call-off stock arrangements; evidence of intra-Community transport.

P3. The place-of-supply rules for VAT purposes – supplies of goods: goods with and without transport, assembly or installation, supplies on board and supplies of gas, electricity, heat and cooling; supplies of services: general B2B and B2C rules and specific rules (immovable property, transport, admission to events, restaurant services, hire of means of transport and electronically supplied services).

P4. Special VAT regimes – the exemption scheme (article 53 of the Portuguese VAT Code) and the cross-border dimension of the small enterprises scheme introduced by Decree-Law No. 35/2025 of 24 March; the flat-rate scheme for farmers; the scheme for small retailers; the scheme for the taxation of liquid fuels applicable to resellers; the cash accounting VAT scheme.

P5. VAT on e-commerce – intra-Community distance sales of goods and distance sales of goods imported from third territories or third countries; the single threshold and the place-of-supply rules; the one-stop shops: Union, non-Union and import schemes (OSS and IOSS); the role of electronic interfaces as deemed suppliers; the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package and Council Directive (EU) 2025/516: single VAT registration, the platform economy, digital reporting and e-invoicing requirements and the application timetable.

Students may choose one of two assessment regimes. In both, approval requires a minimum final mark of 10 (on a 0-20 scale). No minimum mark is required in each individual assessment component.

A) EXAMINATION-ONLY ASSESSMENT

MA3. Final Examination (EF) - 100%. Individual written examination, held in the periods set in the academic calendar. Mandatory.

Formula: FM = EF

B) PERIODIC ASSESSMENT

MA1. Written Assignment (TE) - 45%. Synthesis assignment on a syllabus topic proposed by the lecturer, carried out in groups of two students; the number of members may exceptionally be changed with the lecturer’s consent. It is presented and defended orally in class, on dates announced by the lecturer, with an estimated duration of twenty minutes per group. The oral defence is mandatory and is the basis for differentiating the individual marks of the group members.

MA2. Individual Discussion (AI) - 5%. Individual oral discussion of the assignment presented by another group, with the discussant randomly selected in class by the lecturer. Mandatory.

MA3. Final Examination (EF) - 50%. As described in A).

Formula: FM = 0.45 × TE + 0.05 × AI + 0.50 × EF

Provisions common to both regimes

Class attendance: regime B presupposes class attendance and requires attendance equal to or greater than 70% of the total number of classes of the course unit, since the oral defence of the Written Assignment (MA1) and the Individual Discussion (MA2) are in-person moments.

Working Students and other special statuses: students holding a special status must inform the lecturer within the first two weeks of the term. Students with Working-Student status, or another status exempting them from attendance, may opt for regime A or agree with the lecturer to carry out the written assignment individually and to defend and discuss it on a compatible date; these components remain mandatory under regime B.

Oral examination (marks above 16): final marks above 16 may have to be defended in an individual oral examination of up to 20 minutes, to confirm knowledge consistent with the mark obtained. If the student does not attend or does not confirm it, the final mark is set at 16.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) guidelines - Written Assignment (MA1): Level 2 is permitted, i.e. the use of generative AI tools to support research, the organisation of ideas, drafting and proofreading. Students remain fully responsible for the content, the accuracy of the sources and the critical analysis presented; the reading and interpretation of the legal text and of case law may not be replaced by the output of an AI tool. All legal, doctrinal and case-law references must be verified against the primary source. An AI use declaration must be submitted as an annex to the assignment, identifying the tools used, the main prompts and a record of the group’s critical input. Failure to submit the declaration, or any inconsistency between it and the work submitted, is negatively assessed.

AI guidelines - oral defence of the Written Assignment, Individual Discussion (MA2) and Final Examination (MA3): Level 0 (fully without AI), as these are in-person, individual moments for demonstrating knowledge.

Suspected fraud: where there is well-founded suspicion of fraud detected during marking, the student will be summoned to sit an oral examination to verify the knowledge and competences demonstrated. This verification is carried out by a panel made up of the course-unit lecturer and two further lecturers from the same area. If the student fails to confirm the knowledge and competences shown in the written test, the test will be annulled.

Grade improvement: the final mark may only be improved by sitting the examination in a resit or special improvement sitting, under the regulations, with the higher mark prevailing.

Retention of marks: the marks obtained during the term for the Written Assignment (TE) and the Individual Discussion (AI) remain valid for computing the final mark in the examination sittings of the same academic year.

NAO