European Court of Justice Rules on German Import VAT and EU Directive Compatibility

• The European Court of Justice issued a judgment on German import VAT rules
• The case involved a Poland-based company transporting cigarettes to a German buyer without informing customs authorities
• The German Principal Customs Office determined that import VAT was incurred in Germany and issued a tax notice
• The ECJ ruled that the national customs legislation was incompatible with EU Directive 2006/112/EC
• The national customs legislation only applied to the time of the chargeable event, not the place of importation
• Revenue from import VAT belongs to the EU members where financial consumption occurred.

Source: news.bloombergtax.com

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.