The cost sharing exemption of article 132(1)(f) of the VAT Directive is currently under debate, both at the level of the European Commission and individual Member States. In Part I of this article, the authors analyse each of the conditions for applying this exemption. In the second part of this article, the authors discuss, in particular, the application of the exemption in cross-border scenarios, including both EU and non-EU situations, and the interaction of the exemption with the concept of VAT grouping as set out in article 11 of the VAT Directive.