- A director of a company (dga) moved into a new house in September 2019
- The dga and his wife formed a partnership in December 2019, transferring the economic ownership of the house to it
- The partnership rented out the attic as office space to the dga’s company for an annual rent of 5,400 euros
- In November 2020, the partnership registered as a new business and received a VAT return form for the period from December 2019 to December 2019
- The partnership filed a VAT return in January 2021, requesting a VAT refund of 28,262 euros
- The tax inspector denied the refund request, citing a lack of direct and immediate connection between the house purchase and the intended office rental
- The partnership appealed the decision
- The Hague District Court ruled the refund request was filed late but reviewed it on substantive grounds and sided with the inspector
- The Hague Court of Appeal agreed with the denial but noted the request was made more than 6 months after the entitlement year, meaning any refund would need to be granted on a discretionary basis
- The inspector denied the discretionary refund, and the partnership cannot appeal this decision but can only pursue a civil lawsuit
- The inspector should have declared the initial appeal inadmissible, but the outcome for the partnership remains unchanged, with their appeal unsuccessful
Source: fiscount.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.
