General Court Expands Triangular VAT Simplification, Rejects German Tax Authority’s Restrictive Interpretation

• The General Court ruled that the VAT triangular transaction simplification can apply to chain transactions with more than three parties, not just the classic three-party structure.
• The key requirement is the transfer of the right to dispose of the goods, not physical possession.
• The simplification does not apply if the taxable person knew or should have known the transaction was part of VAT fraud.
• The judgment rejects the restrictive interpretation of the German tax authority, which only allows the simplification for the last three parties in a chain.
• This decision provides greater flexibility and clarity for businesses involved in complex intra-EU supply chains.

Source: kmlz.de

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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