Since the circumstances under which the sharing of expenses relating to joint investments is outside the scope of the EU VAT system are not entirely clear, the Netherlands Supreme Court has developed standard conditions to fill that lacuna, and labelled its approach as the doctrine of sharing joint expenses. The author explains this doctrine and its Community aspects. He concluded that it may even be more practical not to rely on this concessional doctrine and to treat the sharing of joint expenses as consideration for a supply made by the recharging party.