- Invoices for service performances, including those rendered within subcontracts, must include the nature and amount of services, as well as the date they were performed or completed, for VAT deduction purposes.
- The onus of demonstrating that the relevant conditions and the relevance of the services to the business activity have been met falls on the taxpayer exercising the deduction.
- If the Administration deems further elements necessary to assess the request, it is up to the same party to provide them.
- The Court of Cassation, in its judgment No. 3225 filed on February 8, 2025, reiterated this principle.
- The financial administration had contested the issuance of invoices with the application of reverse charge due to the lack of the requirements of Article 17, paragraph 6 of Presidential Decree 633/72, as the documents generically referred to “works carried out at the Bologna construction sites.”
- The Court recalls that EU jurisprudence (Court of Justice of the EU, case C-516/14), in examining the formal conditions for the exercise of VAT deduction, has considered it mandatory to indicate in the invoice the amount and nature of the services provided, as well as the date on which the service is performed or completed, for control purposes (Article 226 points 6 and 7 of Directive 2006/112/EC).
- These conditions, the judges observe, also apply in the case where the taxpayer assumes that the services are subject to reverse charge.
- Domestic jurisprudence has consistently affirmed that the special mechanism requires the taxpayer to adequately document the service by means of an invoice and demonstrate the relevance of the service.
Source: eutekne.info
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.
