Without a correct invoice, that has been issued for a supply of goods or services, the purchasing business cannot recover the VAT charged on that invoice. The European Court of Justice has given several judgments dealing with this issue.
In the following 4 cases, the ECJ decided on the right to deduct VAT in case of non-compliant or defective invoices:
- ECJ – C-518/14 Senatex – Judgment – VAT deduction for non-compliant invoices
The right to deduct VAT exercised on the basis of the corrected invoice relates to the year in which the invoice was originally drawn up and not to the year in which it was corrected. Note that this ECJ case has been decided before the implementation of the Quick Fixes per Jan 1, 2020 - ECJ – C-368/09 (Pannon Gép Centrum Kft. ) – Judgment – Right to deduct VAT in case of incompliant invoices
The national authorities can not deny to a taxable person the right to deduct from the VAT which he is liable to pay the VAT due or paid in respect of services supplied to him - ECJ – C-516/14 (Barlis) – Vague description of the services and the dates may not lead to refusal of VAT deduction
- ECJ – C-271/12 (Petroma) – No Right to deduct VAT in case of incomplete invoices
Even where deduction of VAT is denied to a recipient of a supply, it does not follow that the VAT shown need be refunded to the supplier
For more ECJ case law, you can use the search function on top of this page and type ‘ECJ’, of the case number you are looking for.
