Aalto Master of Business Law student Päivi Utoslahti won the best VAT degree of the year award in an international competition

The International VAT Association has awarded Master of Business Law student Päivi Utoslahti with the annual award for the best student paper dedicated to VAT. The title of the winning thesis is ‘Insurance services in Value Added Taxation – Problem areas in the current legal state and alternative solutions for amendments to tax legislation’. The prize of 1 500 euros and a certificate recognising the achievement were presented to Päivi at a conference in London on 24–25 October 2024.

Päivi Utoslahti wrote her thesis on the VAT treatment of insurance services exempt from VAT. ‘I examined the scope of the concept of insurance services by comparing the concept in the VAT Directive and case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) with the concepts of national legislation and case law of Finland and Sweden.’

The results of the study showed that the VAT provisions of insurance services are applied in an inconsistent way. Due to differences in application, similar transactions are treated differently in taxation depending, for example, on the ability of the insurance operator to provide essential insurance services internally. As a result, business operations may be organized in a tax efficient way rather than production efficient way. 

The study shows that an update of the VAT rules would be timely and necessary to improve legal certainty and neutrality for insurance operators and to reduce distortions of competition between insurance companies.

The study also assessed different options for amending the VAT Directive. These options were based on the European Commission’s current initiative to amend the VAT Directive provisions regarding financial and insurance services.

‘Winning this prestigious competition was a great surprise. It is really nice to see that the subject is attracting interest at an international level. Attending the London conference and presenting the results of the research in front of an audience of VAT professionals was a unique experience,’ says Päivi.

Second place in the competition also went to Aalto and was awarded to another business law student Oona Särkinen.

‘I am really happy about this double win! Success in this tough competition is a great acknowledgement of the students' expertise,’ says Marja Hokkanen, Professor of Practice from the Department of Accounting and Business Law at the School of Business, who supervised the theses.

Congratulations to both!