Prejudicial Questions on Calculating Interest on VAT Arrears in Import Cases

• Prejudicial questions have been raised regarding the calculation of interest on arrears of import VAT.
• The case involves a company making declarations for shipments from Russia and requesting a payment invitation for the under-declared customs value.
• The tax authority charged interest on arrears for the import VAT.
• The tax authority stated that charging interest on arrears for import VAT falls under their internal policy and has not been coordinated with the tax authority responsible for VAT.
• The main issue is whether the tax authority was justified in charging interest on arrears for import VAT.
• The court has referred two prejudicial questions to the Supreme Court.
• The first question asks whether the tax authority has a legal basis for charging interest on arrears for import VAT.
• The second question asks whether the entitlement to deduct the import VAT is relevant to the first question.
• The Advocate General concludes that there is no legal basis for charging interest on arrears for import VAT.
• The Advocate General suggests that the Supreme Court should answer the first question in the negative.
• The Advocate General does not address the second question.
• If the Supreme Court answers the first question affirmatively, the Advocate General suggests that the second question should be answered as follows: it is not possible to charge interest on arrears for import VAT if the taxpayer or the recipient of the goods is entitled to deduct the VAT.

Source: uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl

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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