Direct Claim against the Tax Authorities for VAT Corrections: Recent EU Court Decision

• The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has confirmed that a recipient of an invoice has a direct claim against the tax authorities, even if the issuer of the invoice invokes the defense of prescription.
• The German tax administration has adopted the principles of the ECJ’s decision, but with additional requirements and limitations.
• The ECJ emphasizes that the right to deduct input VAT is an integral part of the principle of neutrality and can only be denied in cases of fraud or abuse.
• The ECJ also states that if the issuer of the invoice changes the original invoice and requests a refund of the VAT from the tax authorities after the recipient has already claimed the input VAT deduction, this would be considered abusive and should be rejected.
• The ECJ’s decision strengthens the rights of businesses, and if there are difficulties in enforcing claims during VAT corrections, a direct claim against the tax authorities should be considered.
• The restrictive views of the tax administration may no longer be valid after the ECJ’s recent decision.

Source: umsatz-steuer-beratung.de

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.

---

---