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Document 62009CA0285

Case C-285/09: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 7 December 2010 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof — Germany) — Criminal proceedings against R. (Sixth VAT Directive — Article 28c(A)(a) — Evasion of VAT — Refusal to grant an exemption of VAT on intra-Community supplies of goods — Vendor’s active participation in the fraud — Powers of the Member States in connection with the prevention of potential tax evasion, avoidance and abuse)

OJ C 55, 19.2.2011, p. 10–10 (BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)

19.2.2011   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 55/10


Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 7 December 2010 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesgerichtshof — Germany) — Criminal proceedings against R.

(Case C-285/09) (1)

(Sixth VAT Directive - Article 28c(A)(a) - Evasion of VAT - Refusal to grant an exemption of VAT on intra-Community supplies of goods - Vendor’s active participation in the fraud - Powers of the Member States in connection with the prevention of potential tax evasion, avoidance and abuse)

2011/C 55/16

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Bundesgerichtshof

Party in the main criminal proceedings

R.

In the presence of: Generalbundesanwalt beim Bundesgerichtshof, Finanzamt Karlsruhe-Durlach

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Bundesgerichtshof — Interpretation of Article 28c(A)(a) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1), as amended — Evasion of VAT — Refusal to grant an exemption of turnover tax on intra-Community supplies of goods — Vendor’s active participation in the fraud

Operative part of the judgment

In circumstances such as those at issue in the main proceedings, in which an intra-Community supply of goods has actually taken place, but when, at the time of that supply, the supplier concealed the identity of the true purchaser in order to enable the latter to evade payment of value added tax, the Member State of departure of the intra-Community supply may, pursuant to its powers under the first part of the sentence in Article 28c(A) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment, as amended by Council Directive 2000/65/EC of 17 October 2000, refuse to allow an exemption in respect of that transaction.


(1)  OJ C 267, 7.11.2009.


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