If a participant in a supply chain commits VAT fraud, the tax authorities often hold other companies in the supply chain liable. The allegation that a company “should have known” about a particular VAT fraud is one argument, which is readily asserted by the tax authorities against affected companies, in an effort to deny them input VAT deduction or zero-rating for cross-border supplies or even both. However, a number of recent decisions provide some degree of assistance: The German Federal Fiscal Court has now decided that the simple non-payment of VAT is not sufficient for the purposes of establishing the existence of VAT fraud. The Fiscal Court of Berlin-Brandenburg wants to establish a strict understanding of the term “supply chain“ and is referring questions concerning this issue to the European Court of Justice. The Fiscal Court of Hessian recently obliged a tax office to pay out input VAT amounts by way of interim relief, in a case where the tax office’s accusations were unsubstantiated.
Source: kmlz.de
