Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2012:568
Date: 2012-09-13
Language of the case: English
Subject matter: Taxation;Value added tax
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber), 19 December 2012 1. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Directives 67/228 and 77/388 — Degree of harmonisation not comparable (Council Directives 67/228 and 77/388) 2. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Basis of assessment — Supply of goods — Commission paid by a mail order company to its agent, for supplies already made — Whether possible, under Directive 67/228, to reduce the basis of assessment retrospectively — Not possible (Council Directive 67/228, Art. 8(a)) 1. See the text of the decision. (see para. 33) 2. Article 8(a) of Second Directive 67/228 on the harmonisation of legislation of Member States concerning turnover taxes must be interpreted as not conferring upon a taxable person the right to treat the basis of assessment of a supply of goods as retrospectively reduced where, after the time of that supply of goods, an agent received a credit from the supplier which the agent elected to take either as a payment of money or as a credit against amounts owed to the supplier in respect of supplies of goods that had already taken place. (see para. 37, operative part)