Consideration of VAT in Cost Assessment Decisions in Joint Litigation Cases: OLG Hamburg Decision 22.11.2023

• In judicial cost assessment decisions, VAT on litigation costs can only be considered and determined if the winning party declares that they are not entitled to input tax deduction.
• The Hanseatic Higher Regional Court had to address how to proceed in cases of joint plaintiffs, where only some of them are entitled to input tax deduction.
• In cases where not all joint plaintiffs are entitled to input tax deduction, the internal relationship regarding the possible VAT liability cannot be ignored in the cost assessment process.
• If a joint plaintiff entitled to input tax deduction bears all the costs internally, VAT cannot be demanded from the other joint plaintiffs.

Source: datenbank.nwb.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.

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