Judgment of 17 May 2018 in Case C‑566/16 (Dávid Vámos).
Source: Curia
For the opinion Advocate General WAHL of 23 November 2017, click here: Opinion in Case C‑566/16 (Dávid Vámos)
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Mr Vámos had made 778 sales of electronic items on two online platforms, without registering as a taxable person for VAT purposes or declaring the income from those sales. The Hungarian tax authorities raised an assessment.
After that, Mr Vámos registered as a person liable to VAT, and opted for the personal exemption, a specific Hungarian VAT tax exemption scheme for small enterprises. Thus, Mr. Vamos argued that he never was liable for any VAT payments, as he stayed under the small enterprises threshold.
The tax authorities stated that Mr. Vamos was too late in applying for the exemption, as that had to be done before commencing taxable activities.
The ECJ agreed with the tax authorities:
“EU law must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which excludes a special value added tax taxation scheme providing for an exemption for small enterprises from being applied to a taxable person who fulfils all the material conditions but did not exercise the right to opt for the application of that scheme at the same time as he declared the commencement of his economic activities to the tax authority.”
