The Revenue Agency responded to a request for a ruling from a company that provides services to gamers through a platform. The company illustrated the services it intends to provide.
The first concerns the request by players/customers to find third parties willing to play for them in order to advance the level of their avatar within the video game.
Once the player/customer requests the service by purchasing it on the Company's platform, the latter automatically registers it on a shared panel (so-called admin panel) so as to be seen by the service providers who in turn can book to process it, without any interaction on their part with the player/customer. The Applicant specifies that the search activity of the service provider will be almost completely automated and that he will take care of the success of the service by making a customer service available to users ready to solve any problems. For the Company, therefore, this service consists in putting the player/customer in touch with the service provider, almost completely automatically and by electronic means.
The second service you mean offer is to coachingunderstood as teaching hours that players/customers can purchase from service providers, defined from the outset as "professional players" or "PRO players". Unlike the avatar enhancement service, in this case there is an interaction between the professional player and the player/customer for recreational and teaching purposes.
From an operational point of view, the player/customer selects the video game for which he is interested in receiving the "coaching" service, enters the basic information (such as, for example, amount of playable hours, date and time preference) and the Company automatically sends the coaching request to the "admin panel", which, as already mentioned, is accessed by all available service providers who, in turn, book themselves independently to give the lesson. Also in this case, l'Istante takes care of the success of the service by providing users with a customer service ready to
resolve any problems.
For the Revenue Agency, the Applicant acts towards the player/customer on his own behalf and in his own name and not as a mere intermediary. From the documentation provided, it can also be seen that the professional player renders his services directly to the Requester from whom he receives a fee. On the basis of these elements, it is therefore believed that the service rendered by the Applicant is not limited to a mere contact between two parties, but also "includes" the performance of the PRO player who
the Instant sells to the customer as if it were its own.
In other words, the Istante provides a broader service downstream which includes an essentially automated component (i.e. the search for the PRO player) and another component which consists in allowing the customer to advance the level of his avatar within of videogames and in which the aspect of human intervention appears fundamental (guidelines resulting from the 108th meeting of the VAT Committee, document C, points 4 and 10).
In conclusion, therefore, it is a complex service that falls within the general rule set out in article 7 ter, letter b) of the VAT Decree, territorially relevant in Italy with the application of the 22 percent rate.
As for the "coaching" service, understood as hours of teaching that the players/clients
can buy in order to have the training activity of a so-called professional player or PRO player. Since this is a service rendered interactively and, therefore, with more than minimal involvement of the provider, it is excluded that the same can qualify as an "electronic" service (article 7, paragraph 3, letter j) of the Implementing Regulation) .
It can therefore be concluded, as suggested by the Applicant, that the "coaching" service falls within the teaching activities (interactive and non-automated) governed by article 7 quinquies, paragraph 1, letter a) of the VAT Decree.
