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On April 27 - 28, 2018 the EU Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) Council held an informal meeting. According to information earlier provided by the Dutch Ministry of Finance during this meeting the Council a.o. discussed 2 tax related subjects. On April 27, 2018 the Dutch Ministry of Finance sent the Dutch House of Representatives 2 Presidency Issues Notes that were published earlier that day by the Bulgarian Presidency and that served as discussion papers for this informal ECOFIN Council.
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On April 26, 2018 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) judged in Case C-81/17, Zabrus Siret SRL versus Direcția Generală Regională a Finanțelor Publice Iași — Administrația Județeană a Finanțelor Publice Suceava (ECLI:EU:C:2018:283).
This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1), as amended by Council Directive 2010/45/EU of 13 July 2010 (OJ 2010 L 189, p. 1) (‘the VAT Directive’), and of the principles of fiscal neutrality, effectiveness and proportionality.
The request has been made in proceedings between Zabrus Siret SRL (‘Zabrus’) and Direcţia Generală Regională a Finanţelor Publice Iaşi — Administraţia Judeţeană a Finanţelor Publice Suceava (Directorate-General of Public Finance of Iași — Regional Public Finance Administration of Suceava, Romania) (‘the Directorate-General’), concerning whether the taxable person may correct value added tax (VAT) returns in order to claim the right to deduct VAT.
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On April 18, 2018 the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration Secretariat of the OECD in cooperation with the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF) released a draft practice note titled: “Limiting the impact of excessive interest deductions on mining revenues” for consultation. The practice note has been prepared as part of a wider effort to address some of the challenges developing countries are facing in raising revenue from their mining sectors.
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On April 19, 2018 on the website of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) the opinion of Advocate General Kokott in the Case C-140/17, Szef Krajowej Administracji Skarbowej versus Gmina Ryjewo (ECLI:EU:C:2018:273) was published.
In these proceedings, the Court must decide whether a subsequent deduction of input tax remains possible even where the taxable person did not expressly allocate the goods to his business at the time of acquisition because at that time their subsequent use was not yet specifically foreseeable. This question arises here in the case of a municipality, which at the time of acquisition was also registered as a taxable person and which used the goods acquired to generate taxable revenues only four years later (but still within the period for the adjustment of input tax).
If the sequence of events were reversed, the municipality would indisputably have had a right to deduct input tax. Such a deduction would have been adjusted subsequently simply by taxing the application. May, however, a taxable person now be charged VAT depending on the chance chronological sequence in which the capital goods are used?
In the case of a natural person who has acquired goods exclusively for his private use, the Court has — since the judgment in Lennartz — ruled against a deduction of input tax, even where the goods are subsequently put to economic use. The legal situation has, however, changed in the meantime, such that it is necessary to clarify whether that case-law may be continued. Does it likewise apply, as the case may be, where a municipality was registered as a taxable person at the time of acquisition and did not expressly allocate the goods to its public authority remit? Is it relevant in that connection that a municipality is to be regarded as a non-taxable person only subject to the conditions laid down in Article 13 of the VAT Directive?
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On April 19, 2018 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) judged in Case C-580/16, Firma Hans Bühler KG versus Finanzamt Graz-Stadt (ECLI:EU:C:2018:261).
This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 141(c) and Articles 42 and 265 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1) as amended by Council Directive 2010/45/EU of 13 July 2010 (JO 2010 L 189, p. 1) (‘the VAT Directive’), read in conjunction with the first paragraph of Article 41 and Articles 197 and 263 of the VAT Directive.
The request was made in the course of a dispute between Firma Hans Bühler KG and the Finanzamt Graz-Stadt (City of Graz Tax Office, Austria) concerning the payment of value added tax (VAT) on transactions carried out between October 2012 and March 2013.
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