BFH Ruling: Insolvency of Paying Agent Doesn’t Adjust Tax Base for Irrecoverable Receivables

BFH ruling addresses tax base reduction due to irrecoverable receivables.
Plaintiff, a pharmacy operator, provided VAT-liable supplies to health insurance funds in 2020.
Payments were processed through X GmbH, a computer center acting as a paying agent.
Due to insolvency, payments were not forwarded to the plaintiff.
Tax court dismissed the claim, considering payments to the computer center as fulfillment of the plaintiff’s claim.
BFH confirmed that payments to the computer center extinguished the plaintiff’s claim under civil law.
Under VAT law, the plaintiff is considered to have received the payments.
Insolvency-related payment default is a separate legal issue between the plaintiff and the data center.
EU law considers the supplier to have received remuneration if paid to the paying agent.
VAT liability reduction is not justified by the insolvency of the paying agent.

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.