Place of importation of goods EU VAT case law

3 cases of the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union on this point of VAT law, from 2017 to 2024.

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Provisions these cases interpret most

Article 71 of Directive 2006/112/EC Importation of goods · 3 of these cases
Article 30 of Directive 2006/112/EC Importation of goods · 2 of these cases
Article 60 of Directive 2006/112/EC Place of importation of goods · 2 of these cases
Article 61 of Directive 2006/112/EC Place of importation of goods · 1 of these cases
Article 156 of Directive 2006/112/EC Customs warehouses, warehouses other than customs warehouses and similar arrangements · 1 of these cases
Article 70 of Directive 2006/112/EC Importation of goods · 1 of these cases
Article 204 of Directive 2006/112/EC Persons liable for payment of VAT to the tax authorities · 1 of these cases
Article 5 of Directive 2006/112/EC Territorial scope · 1 of these cases

The 3 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-791/22 Hauptzollamt Braunschweig (Place where VAT is incurred III)

Judgment · 18 January 2024 · Germany

Place where import VAT is incurred on unlawfully introduced goods

Those provisions preclude such national legislation. The reference to customs legislation in the second subparagraph of Article 71(1) concerns only the chargeable event and chargeability, not the place of importation, which is governed by Article 60. There is no general link between the Directive and the Customs Code. Import VAT is incurred where the goods entered the EU economic network and were intended for consumption, here apparently Poland, subject to verification by the national court. Customs authorities cannot use customs place-of-debt fictions, including small-debt rules, to claim import VAT on goods smuggled in via another Member State. Relevant to excise and tobacco smuggling assessments, and to anyone facing dual customs and import VAT demands after irregular introduction.

C-368/21 Hauptzollamt Hamburg (Place where VAT is incurred – II)

Judgment · 8 September 2022 · Germany

Place of importation of a vehicle brought in unlawfully

The place of importation is the Member State in which the person who failed to comply with the customs obligations resides and actually uses the vehicle. Physical entry into the European Union and first use in another Member State are not decisive where that use served merely to move the vehicle to its final destination for actual and permanent use. A vehicle cannot be "consumed". Residence of the user is an indicator of where it enters the economic network. Confirms and extends Hauptzollamt Münster (C-7/20).

C-571/15 Wallenborn Transports

Judgment · 1 June 2017 · Germany

Import VAT on goods removed from customs supervision in a free zone

Free zones fall within the situations referred to in Article 156, so goods placed there are not in principle imported for VAT purposes. Removal from customs supervision in a free zone does not trigger import VAT unless the goods entered the economic network of the European Union. Entry is presumed where the goods leave the zone, but here the national court must verify that they did not. Article 204 cannot be invoked where Article 203 applies, solely to found a VAT charge. Confirms that a customs debt in a free zone does not automatically carry import VAT.