Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2013:266
Date: 2013-04-25
Language of the case: Finnish
Court formation: Fourth Chamber
Subject matter: Taxation;Value added tax
Procedure: Action for failure to fulfil obligations - unfounded;Action for failure to fulfil obligations - inadmissible
Origin: Finland

Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 25 April 2013 — Commission v Finland (Case C‑74/11) Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Taxation — Directive 2006/112/EC — Articles 9 and 11 — National legislation permitting the inclusion of non-taxable persons in a group of persons which can be regarded as a single taxable person for VAT purposes and restricting the possibility of forming such a group to the financial and insurance sector 1. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Taxable persons — Concept — Possibility for the Member States to regard closely linked persons as a single taxable person — National legislation permitting the inclusion of non-taxable persons in a group of persons who may be regarded as a single taxable person — Failure to fulfil obligations — No such failure (Council Directive 2006/112, Art. 11) (see paras 33-43) 2. Actions for failure to fulfil obligations — Subject-matter of the dispute — Determination during the pre-litigation procedure — New complaints raised in the application initiating proceedings — Not permissible (Art. 258 TFEU) (see paras 48, 50) 3. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation — Common system of value added tax — Taxable persons — Concept — Possibility for the Member States to regard closely linked persons as a single taxable person — National legislation limiting, in practice, to financial service and insurance service providers the possibility of forming a group of persons which may be regarded as a single taxable person — Failure to fulfil obligations — No such failure (Council Directive 2006/112, Art. 11) (see paras 63, 65-68) Re: Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations — Infringement of Articles 9 and 11 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of Value Added Tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1) — National legislation permitting non-taxable persons to be included in a VAT group and restricting the VAT group system to providers of financial services and insurance services. Operative The Court: 1. Dismisses the action; 2. Orders the European Commission to pay the costs; 3. Orders the Czech Republic, the Kingdom of Denmark, Ireland, the Kingdom of Sweden and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to bear their own costs.