Advocate General Seeks Correction of EU Court Decision on Late VAT Deduction

In a review proceeding, Advocate General Kokott proposed overturning the General Court’s ruling on input VAT deduction for invoices received late.
She said the right to deduct input VAT arises only when both substantive conditions (supply/service received) and formal condition (invoice in hand) are met together; the deduction period is the first tax period in which both are satisfied.
Under that view, a national rule allowing input VAT deduction only upon receipt of the invoice does not violate VAT neutrality or proportionality.
The opinion conflicts with the General Court’s February 2026 decision, which had allowed deduction for the supply period if the invoice was received before the VAT return was filed, and with prior German case law/administrative practice.
The Advocate General also raised practical concerns, including the risk of multiple corrections to VAT returns; the Court’s decision in the review is still pending.

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.