- Flo Veneer, a Croatian supplier, delivered oak logs to a buyer in Slovenia from January 1, 2020, to March 31, 2020
- The Croatian tax authority during an audit concluded that the conditions for VAT exemption on exports were not met due to missing crucial information on documents such as consignment notes, including the place and date of receipt
- Flo Veneer argues that VAT exemption should be granted if they have documents as specified in article 45bis of Implementing Regulation 282/2011, which outlines the evidence required for VAT exemption on intra-EU supplies according to article 138 of the VAT Directive
- The Upravni sud u Zagrebu, a Croatian court, questions whether the tax authority can deny VAT exemption if the supplier lacks the documents mentioned in article 45bis and whether the tax authority must consider other presented evidence, such as the physical transport of goods between member states, as a basis for exemption
- The court has referred a preliminary question to the Court of Justice of the European Union asking whether under article 138, paragraph 1 of the VAT Directive and article 45bis of Implementing Regulation 282/2011, VAT exemption can be denied if the supplier does not meet the requirements of article 45bis, or whether the tax authority must consider other evidence presented to assess if the goods were indeed transported from one member state to another, fulfilling the conditions of article 138
Source: nlfiscaal.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.
