Judgment_paragraph 29 · IO v Inspecteur van de rijksbelastingdienst (C-420/18)

29Although it is true that the Court has held, with regard to the tax treatment of the sale of land included in private assets, that the mere exercise of the right of ownership by its holder cannot, in itself, be regarded as constituting an economic activity, but that is not the case where the party concerned takes active steps to market property (see, to that effect, judgments of 15 September 2011, Słaby and Others, C‑180/10 and C‑181/10, EU:C:2011:589, paragraphs 36 to 39, and of 9 July 2015, Trgovina Prizma, C‑331/14, EU:C:2015:456, paragraphs 23 and 24, and, with regard to active steps in forestry management, judgment of 19 July 2012, Rēdlihs, C‑263/11, EU:C:2012:497, paragraph 36), it should be noted that not only is that case-law specific to the tax treatment of the sale of land included in private assets, but that, in any event, it cannot be inferred from it that the fact that such steps are taken is a condition for an activity to be able to be regarded as being carried out for the purpose of obtaining income therefrom on a continuing basis and may therefore be able to be classified as ‘economic’.