VAT Treatment of Trading in Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
So far, there is no supreme court ruling or official administrative guidance on the VAT treatment of NFTs.
A recent case before the Lower Saxony Tax Court involves a domestic entrepreneur who traded NFT “collectibles” via the OpenSea platform in 2021. The digital works themselves were not sold; instead, blockchain-based database entries were transferred. The sales were executed automatically via smart contracts, which are not considered legal contracts.
