- The General Court (EuG) ruled that input VAT deduction should not be postponed to a later tax period solely because the invoice arrives after the supply, as long as the taxpayer has the invoice before submitting the VAT return.
- This decision contradicts previous German case law and administrative practice, which require both the supply and receipt of the invoice in the same tax period for input VAT deduction.
- The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (EuGH) has proposed a review of the EuG’s decision; the EuGH must decide within a month whether to initiate a review procedure.
- The EuG’s decision is not yet effective pending the EuGH’s decision on the review.
- A recent EuGH ruling (March 2026) reaffirmed that input VAT deduction is only possible when both the supply has occurred and a proper invoice is received.
Source: ebnerstolz.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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