In early 2014, the Breda District Court ruled that the rental of a garage box should be considered as the rental of parking space for vehicles for VAT purposes. That performance is exempt from the VAT exemption for property rental, which meant that the rental of the garage box was subject to VAT, according to the court.
In a ruling on 11 September 2015, the ‘s-Hertogenbosch Court of Appeal reversed the aforementioned ruling. According to the court, this is a multifunctional space and not (only) a parking space. Therefore, the rental of such multifunctional spaces does fall under the VAT exemption for property rental.
The court considered decisive, on the one hand, that the lease agreement stipulated that the garage box could be used for storing vehicles, but also for other purposes. Indeed, the lease stipulated that the leased property could be used as a garage/storage area. On the other hand, the Court of Appeal considered that the District Court had rightly held that rules of experience in society indicate that garage boxes are often used for purposes other than storing vehicles.