Transitional arrangements for intra-Community trade EU VAT case law

4 cases of the Court of Justice and the General Court of the European Union on this point of VAT law, from 2010 to 2012.

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Provisions these cases interpret most

Article 28c of Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC Transitional arrangements for the taxation of trade between member states · 3 of these cases
Article 28b of Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC Transitional arrangements for the taxation of trade between member states · 3 of these cases
Article 28a of Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC Transitional arrangements for the taxation of trade between member states · 2 of these cases
Article 22 of Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC Obligations of persons liable for payment · 1 of these cases
Article 28h of Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC Transitional arrangements for the taxation of trade between member states · 1 of these cases
Article 9 of Directive 2006/112/EC Taxable persons · 1 of these cases
Article 4 of Sixth Directive 77/388/EEC Taxable persons · 1 of these cases
Article 168 of Directive 2006/112/EC Origin and scope of right of deduction · 1 of these cases

The 4 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-587/10 VSTR

Judgment · 27 September 2012 · Germany

Exemption refused for want of the customer's VAT identification number

Such a national requirement is permissible, but exemption cannot be refused on that ground alone where the supplier, acting in good faith and having taken all measures reasonably required, cannot supply the number yet produces other evidence sufficiently showing the customer is a taxable person acting as such. The customer's third-country establishment is irrelevant. The Court also noted that, in chain transactions, exemption of the first supply depends on the transport being ascribable to it, a matter for the national court. Confirms the identification number as a formal, not substantive, condition: suppliers in chain transactions who requested the number and were given the onward customer's number instead retain the exemption if good faith and taxable status are otherwise evidenced.

C-430/09 Euro Tyre Holding

Judgment · 16 December 2010 · Netherlands

Ascribing the single intra-Community transport in chain supplies

There is no general rule. The transport is ascribed to whichever supply satisfies all the conditions of an intra-Community supply, on an overall assessment of the circumstances. Where the first purchaser obtains the right to dispose of the goods as owner in the Member State of departure, states its intention to transport them to another Member State and gives a VAT number issued there, the transport is ascribed to the first supply, but only if the power of disposal passes to the second purchaser in the Member State of destination. The foundation case for chain transactions. Relevant to distribution, wholesale and commodity chains and their advisers.

C-285/09 R.

Judgment · 7 December 2010 · Germany

Refusal of the intra-Community supply exemption where the supplier conceals the true purchaser

The Member State of departure may refuse the exemption. Producing false invoices and returns compromises the transitional arrangements, which rest on taxable persons' own evidence, and falls within the Member States' power under the opening words of Article 28c(A) to prevent evasion. Proportionality, neutrality, legal certainty and legitimate expectations do not assist a supplier who has intentionally participated in the evasion. The holding is expressly confined to circumstances of the supplier's own active concealment. Confirms that exemption can be denied to a supplier who is a knowing participant in the fraud, even where dispatch is undisputed and the tax loss arises abroad. Relevant to traders in high-value mobile goods (vehicles, electronics) and their advisers.

C-536/08 X and fiscale eenheid Facet-Facet Trading

Judgment · 22 April 2010 · Netherlands

No deduction of VAT on a fallback intra-Community acquisition

No immediate right of deduction. Where the goods were not actually brought into the Member State of identification, the deemed acquisition cannot be regarded as giving rise to a right of deduction under Article 17, because the goods are not used for the taxable person's taxed transactions there. The remedy is the specific corrective mechanism in the second subparagraph of Article 28b(A)(2), reducing the taxable amount once the acquisition is shown to have been taxed in the Member State of arrival, not the general deduction regime. Confirms that the fallback taxation in the identification State is a sanction-like charge with no input credit.