- The EU General Court (Case T-614/25) interpreted Article 138 of the VAT Directive on exemption for intra-EU supplies in a triangular/call-off-style chain of transactions involving excise-duty-suspended goods.
- For the first supply to be VAT-exempt, the seller must show that ownership was transferred, the goods were transported to another Member State, and they physically left the Member State of supply.
- In a two-supply chain with a single intra-EU transport, the transport must be attributed to only one supply; only that supply can qualify for the Article 138 exemption.
- The dispute turned on when the intermediate buyer transferred the power to dispose of the goods to the final customer; if that transfer occurred before transport, the first supply could be taxable in the country of departure and the intermediate supply could be an intra-EU supply requiring VAT identification in the departure state.
- The Court noted that the newer Article 36a simplification for chain transactions did not apply because it was introduced later than the transactions at issue (2016–2017).
Source: eutekne.info
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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