- The District Court of Gelderland upheld the additional VAT assessments against X BV, determining that the company was involved in VAT fraud and that the inspector was correct in refusing to apply the 0% VAT rate due to this involvement.
- The court found sufficient evidence indicating that X BV should have been aware it was participating in transactions linked to VAT fraud, despite a prior ruling from a criminal court stating no fraud was present, highlighting the lower evidential standards in tax law.
- The court emphasized that the reverse charge mechanism cannot be applied when transactions are known to be part of fraudulent activity, contrasting with a previous opinion by Advocate General Ettema, thereby affirming the legitimacy of the additional assessments imposed.
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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.
