Customs duties EU VAT case law

10 cases of the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union on this point of VAT law, from 1983 to 2022.

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Provisions these cases interpret most

Article 2 of Directive 2006/112/EC Subject matter and scope · 6 of these cases
Article 2 of Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC 5 of these cases
Article 85 of Directive 2006/112/EC Importation of goods · 2 of these cases
Article 143 of Directive 2006/112/EC Exemptions on importation · 2 of these cases
Article 11 of Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC Taxable amount · 2 of these cases
Article 73 of Directive 2006/112/EC Supply of goods or services · 2 of these cases
Article 9 of Directive 2006/112/EC Taxable persons · 2 of these cases
Article 33 of Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC 2 of these cases

The 10 cases, most recent first

Under each case, what the Court decided, from its summary. The summaries are AI-generated and are not official documents: open the case for the Court’s own text.

C-714/20 U.I. (Indirect customs representative)

Judgment · 12 May 2022 · Italy

Liability of the indirect customs representative for import VAT

Article 77(3) of the Customs Code covers customs debt only. Import VAT is not an import duty, so that provision alone makes the indirect representative liable for customs duties, not import VAT. Under Article 201 Member States retain a free choice and may designate the representative as jointly and severally liable, but only through national provisions that do so explicitly and unequivocally, consistently with legal certainty. Whether the Italian provisions do so is for the national court. Customs agents, freight forwarders and clearance brokers acting as indirect representatives cannot be assessed for import VAT by simple analogy with the customs debt.

C-213/19 Commission v United Kingdom (Action to counter undervaluation fraud)

Judgment · 8 March 2022 · United Kingdom

Undervalued imports, customs value, import VAT and own resources liability

For customs procedure 40 imports, an undeclared true customs value necessarily distorts the import VAT taxable amount, so Articles 2(1)(d) and 85 to 87 were breached. For procedure 42, there is no link between customs value and the taxable amount, which rests on the purchase price invoiced in the Member State of destination. Liability for uncollected VAT lies there, not with the Member State of importation. The claim for quantified VAT own resources losses failed. Undervaluation does not necessarily reduce net VAT receipts, since importers and traders recover input tax. Confirms that customs valuation failings automatically infect the import VAT base under Article 85, so a revaluation carries a parallel import VAT assessment.

C-26/18 Federal Express Corporation Deutsche Niederlassung

Judgment · 10 July 2019 · Germany

Place of import VAT where customs irregularities occur in a transit Member State

The first question was inadmissible as hypothetical, since the goods demonstrably entered the economic network. On the second, customs infringements in a Member State which generate a customs debt there do not suffice to locate entry into the Union economic network in that State. The presumption of entry where goods are unlawfully introduced or removed from supervision is rebuttable. Where the goods are shown to have been carried onwards to another Member State, their final destination, and consumed there, import VAT arises only in that latter State.

C-250/11 Lietuvos geležinkeliai

Judgment · 19 July 2012 · Lithuania

Fuel in standard tanks, relief does not extend to locomotives

The relief and exemption do not apply to locomotives. Language versions diverge on whether the vehicle must be a "road" vehicle, so the provisions were read by reference to their purpose. Easing border crossings and avoiding disproportionate systematic tank checks. With few locomotives crossing and tanks of up to 7 000 litres, that rationale does not hold. Equal treatment does not compel a different result. Different transport modes are not generally interchangeable. The third question fell away. Rail operators refuelling outside the EU cannot claim the standard tank relief for import duty or import VAT, and must declare imported fuel and account for excise duty.

C-248/09 Pakora Pluss

Judgment · 29 July 2010 · Latvia

Import VAT and the accession transitional regime for goods in transport

The accession regime is exhaustive for goods in transport on 01-05-2004 and requires three cumulative conditions: export procedure completed, release for free circulation, and proof of preferential origin or Community status. Article 448 steps cannot substitute for the export formalities. The Customs Code applied in the new Member States from 01-05-2004, but the duty-free accession regime cannot be invoked where those formalities were not completed. Import duties under Article 4(10) do not include import VAT. Import VAT is payable by the person designated or accepted as liable by the Member State of importation. Confirms that import VAT sits outside the customs concept of import duties even though duties enter the import VAT taxable amount, and that liability for import VAT is a matter of national designation rather than automatically attaching to the transit principal under customs rules.

C-387/01 Weigel

Judgment · 29 April 2004 · Austria

Registration tax on cars brought in on a change of residence

Free movement of workers does not guarantee tax neutrality on relocation, and Directive 83/183 does not apply because the operative event is first registration, not importation. The tax is internal taxation to be tested under Article 90 EC, and is permissible only if it precisely reflects actual depreciation and never exceeds the residual tax in comparable vehicles already registered. The 20% surcharge, applying in practice only to imported vehicles, breaches Article 90 EC. The Sixth Directive question was not answered. Confirms that vehicle registration taxes are outside the personal property exemption in Directive 83/183 and are policed through Article 90 EC rather than the VAT rules. Relevant to advisers on car imports, fleet relocations and registration tax refund claims.

C-28/96 Fricarnes

Judgment · 17 September 1997 · Portugal

Meat marketing levies, charges equivalent to customs duties or turnover taxes

Where revenue finances activities benefiting only the taxed domestic products and fully offsets their burden, the charge is one having equivalent effect to a customs duty and is wholly unlawful. Where it only partly offsets it, it is discriminatory internal taxation and must be reduced proportionally, with the same analysis applying where domestic products merely gain a proportionally greater advantage. The national court must make those findings. A charge on selected products only, not proportional to price, not levied at each stage and with no deduction, is not a turnover tax under Article 33. Confirms the offsetting analysis for parafiscal levies funding sector bodies. Relevant to agri-food, meat and livestock operators facing national marketing or disease control levies.

C-131/91 'K' Line Air Service Europe

Judgment · 9 July 1992 · Belgium

Minimum taxable amount on second-hand car sales between taxable persons

The Directive precludes such a minimum taxable amount. Article 32 covers only goods on which VAT has been definitively borne and which risk being taxed twice. It does not extend to used capital goods where the seller deducted input VAT on acquisition, so no double taxation arises. Nor is the measure a permissible Article 27 derogation. Replacing the agreed price altogether is a general and systematic departure exceeding what is strictly necessary. Articles 9 to 11 EEC were irrelevant, the transaction being purely internal. Confirms that the taxable amount for business-to-business sales of used business assets is the actual consideration, not an administratively fixed percentage of list price.

C-343/89 Witzemann

Judgment · 6 December 1990 · Germany

Import VAT on counterfeit currency

No customs debt arises on the importation of counterfeit currency into the customs territory of the Community, and Article 2 of the Sixth Directive does not permit import VAT to be levied on it. Counterfeit currency is subject to an absolute prohibition in all Member States, unlike narcotic drugs, which may lawfully circulate for medical and scientific purposes. The ruling leaves untouched the power of Member States to prosecute and to impose penalties, financial or otherwise. Confirms and extends the Einberger line. Relevant to advisers dealing with assessments raised alongside criminal proceedings.

C-39/82 Donner

Judgment · 12 January 1983 · Netherlands

Postal customs clearance and commission charges on imports

The collection of turnover tax on importation is itself internal taxation, not a charge of equivalent effect. However, Article 13 does extend to a postal charge for presenting a parcel for customs clearance, invoiced to the addressee in connection with turnover tax formalities, if the charge is imposed unilaterally and is not payment for a service actually rendered of a commensurate amount. Availability of another carrier is not a realistic alternative. Whether the addressee can genuinely declare himself, and whether he is faced with a fait accompli, is for the national court. Confirms that formalities costs generated by import VAT collection cannot simply be passed to the recipient as a quasi-duty. Relevant to postal and express carriers and their advisers levying clearance and disbursement fees on consignees.

Customs duties EU VAT case law

Provisions these cases interpret most

The 10 cases, most recent first

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