Comments on ECJ C-127/22: If the goods are destroyed, it is not necessary to give back the input VAT

A Bulgarian telecommunications company wrote off some electronic devices due to wear and tear, defects, or obsolescence. Some of these devices were subsequently sold as waste and some were destroyed.
The Bulgarian tax authorities believed that this writing-off triggered a need to reduce input tax.
However, according to Article 185 of the VAT directive, adjustments to input tax only need to be made when there is a change in the factors relevant for deduction since the VAT return, such as cancelled purchases or price reductions.
The destruction of goods breaks the direct link between the right to deduct VAT and VAT-taxable activities, but Article 185.2 provides an exception to this rule.
The term “destruction” is ambiguous but includes the act of the taxpayer choosing to destroy the products when they are no longer useful for their operations.
As long as the destruction was duly “proved or confirmed and that the goods had objectively lost all usefulness in the taxable person’s economic activities,” the destruction of goods does not result in a decrease in input VAT.