Abstract: Our article analyzes the normative provisions and the jurisprudential specifications regarding the hypotheses establishing exemptions from the VAT regime for financial-banking services. The analysis reveals different normative formulas that refer either to the qualities of the operators or to the specific elements of the exempted operations. We emphasize that, in the light of the jurisprudential accents of the Court of Justice of the European Union, there are also relatively universal and transversal criteria, such as the aim pursued by the operation.

Keywords: VAT, exempted operations, financial-banking sistem