Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 1 December 2022.#Finanzamt Kiel v Norddeutsche Gesellschaft für Diakonie mbH.#Request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesfinanzhof.#Reference for a preliminary ruling – Value added tax (VAT) – Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC – Second subparagraph of Article 4(4) – Taxable persons – Option for Member States to treat as a single taxable person entities that are legally independent but closely bound to one another by financial, economic and organisational links (‘VAT group’) – National legislation designating the controlling company of a VAT group as a single taxable person – Concept of ‘close financial links’ – No need for the controlling company to have a majority of voting rights as well as a majority shareholding – Assessment of the independence of an economic entity in the light of standardised criteria – Scope.#Case C-141/20.