Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 19 April 2018.

Delivered 2018-04-19 · ECLI:EU:C:2018:261 · Court of Justice · Languages: LT · EN · IT · SV · PL · LV · ET · SL

Case
C-580/16
Court
Court of Justice
Date
2018-04-19
Parties
Firma Hans Bühler KG v Finanzamt de Graz-Stadt
ECLI
ECLI:EU:C:2018:261
Original
EUR-Lex ↗
PresidentT. von DanwitzJudgeC. VajdaJudgeE. JuhászJudge · rapporteurK. JürimäeJudgeC. LycourgosAdvocate GeneralY. BotRegistrarR. Schiano
Summary
Preparing…

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Fourth Chamber)

19 April 2018 (*1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Taxation — Value added tax (VAT) — Directive 2006/112/EC — Place of intra-Community acquisition — Article 42 — Intra-Community acquisition of goods that are the object of a subsequent supply — Article 141 — Exemption — Triangular transaction — Simplification measures — Article 265 — Correction of recapitulative statement)

In Case C‑580/16,

REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Administrative Court, Austria), made by decision of 19 October 2016, received at the Court on 17 November 2016, in the proceedings

Firma Hans Bühler KG

v

Finanzamt Graz-Stadt,

THE COURT (Fourth Chamber),

composed of T. von Danwitz, President of the Chamber, C. Vajda, E. Juhász, K. Jürimäe (Rapporteur) and C. Lycourgos, Judges,

Advocate General: Y. Bot,

Registrar: R. Schiano, Administrator,

having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 11 October 2017,

after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 30 November 2017,

gives the following

Judgment

Legal context

EU law

‘(10)

During [the] transitional period, intra-Community transactions carried out by taxable persons other than exempt taxable persons should be taxed in the Member State of destination, in accordance with the rates and conditions set by that Member State.

…

‘1. The following transactions shall be subject to VAT:

…

‘“Intra-Community acquisition of goods” shall mean the acquisition of the right to dispose as owner of movable tangible property dispatched or transported to the person acquiring the goods, by or on behalf of the vendor or the person acquiring the goods, in a Member State other than that in which dispatch or transport of the goods began.’
‘The place of the intra-Community acquisition of goods shall be deemed to be the place where dispatch or transport to the person acquiring them ends.’
‘Without prejudice to Article 40, the place of an intra-Community acquisition of goods as referred to in Article 2(1)(b)(i) shall be deemed to be within the territory of the Member State which issued the VAT identification number under which the person acquiring the goods made the acquisition, unless the person acquiring the goods establishes that VAT has been applied to that acquisition in accordance with Article 40.

If VAT is applied to the acquisition in accordance with the first paragraph and subsequently applied, pursuant to Article 40, to the acquisition in the Member State in which dispatch or transport of the goods ends, the taxable amount shall be reduced accordingly in the Member State which issued the VAT identification number under which the person acquiring the goods made the acquisition.’

‘The first paragraph of Article 41 shall not apply and VAT shall be deemed to have been applied to the intra-Community acquisition of goods in accordance with Article 40 where the following conditions are met:
‘Each Member State shall take specific measures to ensure that VAT is not charged on the intra-Community acquisition of goods within its territory, made in accordance with Article 40, where the following conditions are met:
‘1. VAT shall be payable by the person to whom the goods are supplied when the following conditions are met:
‘Every taxable person identified for VAT purposes shall submit a recapitulative statement of the following:
‘1. The recapitulative statement shall be drawn up for each calendar month within a period not exceeding one month and in accordance with procedures to be determined by the Member States.

…’

‘1. In the case of intra-Community acquisitions of goods, as referred to in Article 42, the taxable person identified for VAT purposes in the Member State which issued him with the VAT identification number under which he made such acquisitions shall set the following information out clearly on the recapitulative statement:

Austrian law

‘The intra-Community acquisition is made in the territory of the Member State in which the goods are located … when their dispatch or transport ends. If the acquirer uses, in its dealings with the supplier, a VAT identification number issued to it by another Member State, the acquisition shall be deemed to have been made in the territory of that Member State, unless and until the acquirer proves that the acquisition has been taxed by the Member State designated in the first sentence. In the event of proof, Paragraph 16 shall apply by analogy.’

‘Definition

(1) A triangular transaction occurs where three contractors effect taxable transactions concerning the same goods in three different Member States, those goods are sent directly by the first supplier to the final customer and the conditions set out in paragraph 3 are met. That shall also apply where the final customer is a legal person who is not a contractor or is not acquiring the goods for its business. Place of the intra-Community acquisition in the case of a triangular transaction

(2) The intra-Community acquisition within the meaning of the second sentence of Article 3(8) shall be deemed to be taxed when the contractor (acquirer) proves that a triangular transaction has occurred and that it has complied with its obligations concerning the duty to declare under paragraph 6. If the contractor does not comply with its duty to declare, the tax exemption shall be forfeited retroactively. Tax exemption on the intra-Community acquisition of goods

(3) The intra-Community acquisition shall be exempt from VAT where the following conditions are met:

Issuing of invoice by the acquirer

(4) In the event of application of the exemption under paragraph 3, the invoice must additionally contain the following information:

Person liable for payment of tax

(5) In the case of a triangular transaction, the recipient of the taxable supply shall be liable to pay the tax where the invoice issued by the acquirer corresponds to paragraph 4. Duties of the acquirer

(6) In order to comply with the obligations concerning the duty to declare under paragraph 2, the contractor shall be required to provide the following details in the recapitulative statement:

Duties of the recipient

(7) In calculating the tax under Paragraph 20, the amount payable under paragraph 5 is to be added to the amount ascertained.’

‘Issuing of invoice by the acquirer

Where the provisions of this federal law are applicable to the issuance of the invoice, the invoice must additionally contain the following details:

The dispute in the main proceedings and the questions referred for a preliminary ruling

‘(1)

Is Article 141(c) of [the VAT Directive], on which the non-application of the first paragraph of Article 41 of [the VAT Directive] depends, in accordance with Article 42 (read in conjunction with Article 197) of [the VAT Directive], to be interpreted as meaning that the requirement laid down in that provision is not met where the taxable person is resident and identified for VAT purposes in the Member State from which the goods are dispatched or transported, even if that taxable person uses the VAT identification number of another Member State for that specific intra-Community acquisition?

Consideration of the questions referred

The first question

The second question

Costs

On those grounds, the Court (Fourth Chamber) hereby rules:

[Signatures]

(*1) Language of the case: German.

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