VAT assessment not in violation of the principle of defence

VAT assessment not in violation of the principle of defence

Court Ruling on Principle of Defence: The Zeeland-West-Brabant District Court determined that there was no unlawful violation of the principle of defence under EU law concerning X’s VAT additional assessment, which arose from an audit regarding various VAT issues for the year 2018.
Audit and Response Timeline: Following the audit, X was informed of the draft VAT assessment, with deadlines set for responding to the fines and the draft report. Although X requested a delay for the final interview due to a holiday, the VAT additional assessment was imposed before the opportunity for this meeting.
Justification for Imposition: The court ruled that the urgency of the VAT levy, due to potential limitations on its collection, justified the lack of a prior hearing for X before the assessment was imposed, affirming the correctness of the additional VAT assessment amount.

Principle of defence does not stand in the way of an additional assessment for ICT entrepreneurs

Audit and Additional VAT Assessment: An entrepreneur providing ICT services faced an audit that led to an additional VAT assessment of €4,050 for the year 2018, concerning corrections to deducted input tax, private car use, and sales tax on invoices.
Response Opportunity and Assessment Timing: The inspector imposed the additional assessment on December 28, 2023, before the entrepreneur could respond to the draft audit report, although the court later acknowledged that the imminent expiry of the assessment period justified this timing.
Court Ruling on Principle of Defence: The Zeeland-West-Brabant District Court upheld the appeal in part, reducing the additional assessment to €3,810, while ruling that the principle of defence was not violated due to the justified urgency of the situation, and found the corrections made by the inspector to be reasonable based on the evidence presented.