The Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) has now confirmed in a recent ruling that the requirements for the invoices to be enclosed must not be overstretched. In the underlying case, a company based in the Netherlands had submitted an application for an input tax refund to the BZSt.
Source: js-steuerberater.de
Unofficial translation in English
Input tax refund procedure: Copies of invoices to be submitted only have to meet minimum standards (Thursday, 12.03.2020)
Entrepreneurs who are resident in other EU countries and do not owe any value added tax in Germany can have the input tax paid in Germany refunded by the Federal Central Tax Office via the so-called 8th Directive VAT Refund procedure.
The entrepreneur must directly attach the underlying invoices and import receipts as scanned originals to his refund application, provided that the refund for the turnover or import amounts to at least EUR 1,000. In the case of invoices for the purchase of fuels, a value limit of EUR 250 applies.
The Federal Fiscal Court (BFH) has now confirmed in a recent ruling that the requirements for the invoices to be enclosed must not be overstretched. In the underlying case, a company based in the Netherlands had submitted an application for an input tax refund to the BZSt. It had submitted only “rudimentary” incoming invoices for two of the applications:
- An invoice entitled “Recalculation of the 19% VAT on the attached invoices”, but for which the invoices referred to were not submitted. However, the document submitted contained details of the name and address of the issuer and recipient of the invoice, the invoice date, the invoice number and the remuneration. With regard to the object of the service, the invoice referred to a construction project.
- An invoice which was only attached with its fourth page. This page, however, listed parts of the delivery item by construction site, delivery date and quantity as well as invoice number, invoice date, remuneration and tax statement as well as details of the name and address of the invoice issuer and invoice recipient.
The BZSt classified the submitted invoices as incomplete and therefore rejected the input tax refund. This was not the case with the BFH, which now gave the green light for the refund to be granted. In the opinion of the federal judges, the company had duly fulfilled the requirement of submitting the invoices. In the refund procedure, the applicant satisfied his obligation to submit a copy of the invoice if he attached an invoice document to his application which met the minimum requirements for an invoice which could be corrected.
The copies of invoices submitted to the BZSt contained the required minimum information on the issuer of the invoice, the service recipient, the service description, the remuneration and the separately shown value added tax. The company was therefore able to submit the complete invoice documents with retroactive effect.
Note: The BFH pointed out that it would be contrary to the principles of proportionality if any deficiencies in the submission were to lead to a final exclusion from the input tax refund.
