Case C-587/10

Vogtländische Straßen-, Tief- und Rohrleitungsbau GmbH Rodewisch (VSTR)

v

Finanzamt Plauen

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesfinanzhof)

‛Taxation — Value added tax — Supply of goods — Taxation of chain transactions — Refusal to exempt on grounds of failure to produce the VAT identification number of the person acquiring goods’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 27 September 2012

1. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Transitional arrangements for the taxation of trade between Member States — Intra-Community supply — Meaning

   (Council Directive 77/388, as amended by Council Directive 98/80, Art. 28cA(a), first subpara.)

2. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Transitional arrangements for the taxation of trade between Member States — Exemption for intra-Community dispatch or transport of goods — Successive supplies concerning the same goods and giving rise to only one intra-Community dispatch or transport of goods — That dispatch or transport ascribed to one of the two successive supplies — Criteria — Determination by the national court

   (Council Directive 77/388, as amended by Council Directive 98/80, Art. 28cA(a), first para.)

3. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Transitional arrangements for the taxation of trade between Member States — Exemption for intra-Community dispatch or transport of goods — Requirement of the provision by the supplier of the VAT identification number of the person acquiring the goods — Lawfulness — Condition

   (Council Directive 77/388, as amended by Council Directive 98/80, Art. 28cA(a), first para.)

1.  See the text of the decision.

   (see paras 29, 30)

2.  See the text of the decision.

   (see paras 31-37)

3.  The first subparagraph of Article 28c(A)(a) of Sixth Directive 77/388 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes, as amended by Directive 98/80, must be interpreted as not precluding the tax authority of a Member State from making the exemption from VAT of an intra-Community supply subject to the provision by the supplier of the VAT identification number of the person acquiring the goods, with the proviso that the grant of that exemption should not be refused on the sole ground that that requirement was not fulfilled where the supplier, acting in good faith and having taken all the measures which can reasonably be required of him, is unable to provide that identification number but provides other information which is such as to demonstrate sufficiently that the person acquiring the goods is a taxable person acting as such in the transaction at issue.

   Apart from the requirements relating to the capacity of the taxable person, to the transfer of the right to dispose of goods as owner and to the physical movement of the goods from one Member State to another, no other conditions can be placed on the classification of a transaction as an intra-Community supply or acquisition of goods. Thus, in order to be exempt under the first subparagraph of Article 28c(A)(a) of the Sixth Directive, a supplier cannot be required to provide evidence of the taxation of the intra-Community acquisition of the goods in question.

   (see paras 55, 58, operative part)

Case C-587/10

Vogtländische Straßen-, Tief- und Rohrleitungsbau GmbH Rodewisch (VSTR)

v

Finanzamt Plauen

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesfinanzhof)

‛Taxation — Value added tax — Supply of goods — Taxation of chain transactions — Refusal to exempt on grounds of failure to produce the VAT identification number of the person acquiring goods’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 27 September 2012

1. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Transitional arrangements for the taxation of trade between Member States — Intra-Community supply — Meaning

   (Council Directive 77/388, as amended by Council Directive 98/80, Art. 28cA(a), first subpara.)

2. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Transitional arrangements for the taxation of trade between Member States — Exemption for intra-Community dispatch or transport of goods — Successive supplies concerning the same goods and giving rise to only one intra-Community dispatch or transport of goods — That dispatch or transport ascribed to one of the two successive supplies — Criteria — Determination by the national court

   (Council Directive 77/388, as amended by Council Directive 98/80, Art. 28cA(a), first para.)

3. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Transitional arrangements for the taxation of trade between Member States — Exemption for intra-Community dispatch or transport of goods — Requirement of the provision by the supplier of the VAT identification number of the person acquiring the goods — Lawfulness — Condition

   (Council Directive 77/388, as amended by Council Directive 98/80, Art. 28cA(a), first para.)

1.  See the text of the decision.

   (see paras 29, 30)

2.  See the text of the decision.

   (see paras 31-37)

3.  The first subparagraph of Article 28c(A)(a) of Sixth Directive 77/388 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes, as amended by Directive 98/80, must be interpreted as not precluding the tax authority of a Member State from making the exemption from VAT of an intra-Community supply subject to the provision by the supplier of the VAT identification number of the person acquiring the goods, with the proviso that the grant of that exemption should not be refused on the sole ground that that requirement was not fulfilled where the supplier, acting in good faith and having taken all the measures which can reasonably be required of him, is unable to provide that identification number but provides other information which is such as to demonstrate sufficiently that the person acquiring the goods is a taxable person acting as such in the transaction at issue.

   Apart from the requirements relating to the capacity of the taxable person, to the transfer of the right to dispose of goods as owner and to the physical movement of the goods from one Member State to another, no other conditions can be placed on the classification of a transaction as an intra-Community supply or acquisition of goods. Thus, in order to be exempt under the first subparagraph of Article 28c(A)(a) of the Sixth Directive, a supplier cannot be required to provide evidence of the taxation of the intra-Community acquisition of the goods in question.

   (see paras 55, 58, operative part)