Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2007:15
Date: 2007-01-11
Language of the case: Dutch
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Taxation;Value added tax
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Netherlands

Summary of the Judgment Tax provisions – Harmonisation of laws – Turnover taxes – Common system of value added tax – Transitional arrangements for the taxation of trade between Member States (Council Directive 77/388, Art. 28c(A)(a), first subpara.) The first subparagraph of Article 28c(A)(a) of the Sixth Directive 77/388 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes, as amended by Directive 95/7, read in conjunction with Directive 77/799 concerning mutual assistance by the competent authorities of the Member States in the field of direct and indirect taxation, as amended by Council Directive 92/12, and with Regulation No 218/92 on administrative cooperation in the field of indirect taxation, must be interpreted as not requiring the tax authorities of the Member State of dispatch or transport on an intra-Community supply of goods to request information from the authorities of the destination Member State alleged by the supplier. First, the first and second recitals of the mutual assistance directive and the third recital of the administrative cooperation regulation show that their aim is to combat tax evasion and avoidance and to allow Member States to determine exactly the amount of tax to levy. Secondly, it is clear from the titles of the mutual assistance directive and the administrative cooperation regulation that they were adopted in order to govern cooperation between the tax authorities of the Member States. Thus, those measures confer no right on individuals other than that of obtaining confirmation of the validity of the ‘value added tax identification number of any specified person’ in accordance with Article 6(4) of the administrative cooperation regulation. Further, those Community measures also lay down limits on cooperation between the Member States, since the authorities of the requested State are not required to supply the information requested in all circumstances. It follows that the mutual assistance directive and the administrative cooperation regulation were not adopted for the purpose of establishing a system for exchanging information between the tax authorities of the Member States allowing them to establish the intra-Community nature of supplies made by a taxable person who is not himself able to provide the necessary evidence for that purpose. (see paras 30-31, 33-34, 38, operative part)