Freeconomics in the light of EU VAT Directive : Are free digital services supplied in exchange for personal data VAT taxable?

Abstract: The digital economy is growing exponentially. Companies such as Facebook and Instagram base their business model on supplying services completely free of charge to billions of users.  This model of business is called “Freeconomics”. These companies generate huge profits from the exploitation of personal data provided by Users. The peculiarity of this way of doing business, although this may seem absurd, is that the company's profit is directly proportional to the number of non-paying users. Such situations have given rise to discussions regarding the powerlessness of the tax system of states to levy tax on such profits. Regarding the indirect taxation, the question is even more difficult if one considers free digital services and personal data. Unfortunately, this flow of “digital” consumption remains completely out of a VAT assessment. Exclude a priori those transactions from being assessed for VAT purposes only because it could be arduous to assess the consumption would result in a violation of the principle of neutrality. Accordingly, issues related to the distortion of competition could also arise. The author of this thesis examines the assumption that between the Companies and the Users take place a reciprocal exchange of benefits in kind characterized by a synallagmatic relationship (quid pro quo) in the form of barter. The results of the analysis indicate that the transactions characterized by the supply of free digital services to Users in exchange for personal data - as described in the Business Reference Model - actually fall within the scope of Article 2 (1)(c) of the EU VAT Directive and therefore must be subject to indirect taxation.