Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2013:382
Date: 2013-06-11
Language of the case: Portuguese
Subject matter: Taxation;Value added tax
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Portugal

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), 5 December 2013 1. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Limits — Jurisdiction of the national court — Establishing and assessing the facts of the dispute — Need to make a reference for a preliminary ruling and relevance of the questions raised — Assessment by the national court (Art. 267 TFEU) 2. Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Identification of the relevant aspects of Community law (Art. 267 TFEU) 3. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Taxable amount — Screening tax provided for under national legislation for the benefit of the cinematographic and audiovisual arts — Inclusion of such a tax in the taxable amount (Council Directives 77/388, Arts 11(A)(1)(a), 2(a) and 3(c), and 2006/112, Arts 73, 78, first para., (a), and 79, first para., (c)) 1. See the text of the decision. (see para. 21) 2. See the text of the decision. (see para. 27) 3. On a proper construction of Article 11(A)(1)(a), (2)(a) and (3)(c) of Sixth Directive 77/388 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes and Article 73, point (a) of the first paragraph of Article 78 and point (c) of the first paragraph of Article 79 of Directive 2006/112 on the common system of value added tax, a tax such as the ‘screening tax’ provided for under Portuguese legislation for the benefit of the cinematographic and audiovisual arts must be included in the taxable amount for the purposes of the value added tax payable on services consisting in the screening of commercial advertising. In that regard, the chargeable event for the screening tax coincides with that for the value added tax payable on commercial advertising screening services. The screening tax becomes chargeable as soon as the services are provided and only becomes chargeable if such services are provided. Such a tax therefore has a direct link with the supply of commercial advertising screening services, since the chargeable events for the screening tax and for the value added tax coincide. It therefore falls within the concept of ‘taxes, duties, levies and charges’ referred to in Article 11(A)(2)(a) of the Sixth Directive and point (a) of the first paragraph of Article 78 of Directive 2006/112. (see paras 41, 42, 48, operative part)