- Court Ruling: According to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), there is a direct link between VAT collection and the allocation of corresponding VAT resources to the EU budget.
- Impact of Shortcomings: Any deficiencies in VAT collection can potentially lead to a reduction in the VAT resources available to the EU.
- Cited Cases: The ruling references several key cases, including M.A.S. and M.B. (2017), Degano Trasporti (2016), and Åkerberg Fransson (2013), highlighting the established legal precedent on this issue.
Sources
- Point 31: Since the European Union’s own resources, by virtue of Council Decision 2014/335/EU, Euratom of 26 May 2014 on the system of own resources of the European Union (OJ 2014 L 168, p. 105), include revenue from the application of a uniform rate to the harmonised VAT assessment bases determined in accordance with EU rules, there is a direct link between the collection of VAT revenue in compliance with the EU law applicable and the availability to the EU budget of the corresponding VAT resources, since any lacuna in the collection of the first potentially causes a reduction in the second (see, to that effect, judgment of 26 February 2013, Åkerberg Fransson, C‑617/10, EU:C:2013:105, paragraph 26, and the Taricco judgment, paragraph 38).
- Point 22: The European Union’s own resources include, in particular, as provided in Article 2(1) of Council Decision 2007/436/EC, Euratom of 7 June 2007 on the system of the European Communities’ own resources (OJ 2007 L 163, p. 17), revenue from the application of a uniform rate to the harmonised VAT basis of assessment determined according to European Union rules. There is thus a direct link between the collection of VAT revenue in compliance with the EU law applicable and the availability to the European Union budget of the corresponding VAT resources, since any lacuna in the collection of the first potentially causes a reduction in the second (judgment in Åkerberg Fransson, C‑617/10, EU:C:2013:105, paragraph 26 and the case-law cited).
- Point 26: Furthermore, Article 325 TFEU obliges the Member States to counter illegal activities affecting the financial interests of the European Union through effective deterrent measures and, in particular, obliges them to take the same measures to counter fraud affecting the financial interests of the European Union as they take to counter fraud affecting their own interests (see, to this effect, Case C‑367/09 SGS Belgium and Others [2010] ECR I‑10761, paragraphs 40 to 42). Given that the European Union’s own resources include, as provided in Article 2(1) of Council Decision 2007/436/EC, Euratom of 7 June 2007 on the system of the European Communities’ own resources (OJ 2007 L 163, p. 17), revenue from application of a uniform rate to the harmonised VAT assessment bases determined according to European Union rules, there is thus a direct link between the collection of VAT revenue in compliance with the European Union law applicable and the availability to the European Union budget of the corresponding VAT resources, since any lacuna in the collection of the first potentially causes a reduction in the second (see, to this effect, Case C‑539/09 Commission v Germany [2011] ECR I‑11235, paragraph 72).
- Join the Linkedin Group on ECJ/CJEU/General Court VAT Cases, click HERE
- VATupdate.com – Your FREE source of information on ECJ VAT Cases
