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.

Source: hub.kpmg.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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