Return amounts paid by the drug manufacturer are VAT deductions

A pharmaceutical manufacturer has concluded financial arrangements with the Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport for three pharmaceuticals. On the basis of these financial arrangements, the manufacturer pays, via a trusted third party, return amounts to the health insurers that have reimbursed the medicines through the basic health insurance.

It is in dispute whether the manufacturer is entitled to a refund of sales tax in connection with the payment of the return amounts.

The Gelderland District Court ruled that the manufacturer cannot freely dispose of the amounts received when the medicines are sold, because he is obliged to pay the return amounts on the basis of the financial arrangements. In view of the principle that the tax authorities cannot receive more than the taxpayer has collected and the Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma judgment of the Court of Justice, there is therefore a price reduction and the manufacturer is entitled to a refund.

Source BTW jurisprudentie in Dutch

See also ECJ C-462/16 – Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG – Judgment – Discounts reduce the VAT value of pharmaceutical supplies

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