62022CO0426_INF
Order of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 20 June 2023 –SOLE MiZO v Nemzeti Adó- és Vámhivatal Fellebbviteli Igazgatósága
(Case C‑426/22) (
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)
(Request for a preliminary ruling – Common system of value added tax – Directive 2006/112/EC – Article 183 – Principles of fiscal effectiveness and fiscal neutrality – Deduction of input tax – Refund of excess – Calculation of interest due because of the unavailability of an excess of deductible VAT withheld in breach of EU law – Monetary depreciation)
Harmonisation of fiscal legislation – Common system of value added tax – Deduction of input tax – Rules governing exercise of the right of deduction – Refund of excess – Principles of effectiveness and fiscal neutrality – Calculation of interest due because of the unavailability of an excess of deductible VAT withheld in breach of EU law – No compensation for the monetary depreciation, thereby depriving the taxable person of adequate compensation – Not permissible
(Council Directive 2006/112, Art. 183)
(see paragraphs 37-49, 54, operative part)
Operative part
Article 183 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax, and also the principles of fiscal effectiveness and fiscal neutrality,
must be interpreted as:
precluding the practice of a Member State consisting in calculating interest on an excess of deductible value added tax (VAT) withheld by that Member State beyond a reasonable period in breach of EU law by applying a rate which corresponds to the national central bank’s base rate, plus two percentage points, where the interest on that excess VAT accrues during a period between the last date for lodging the return for a given month and that for lodging the return for the following month, without applying interest intended to compensate for the monetary depreciation caused by the passage of time, occurring after that period and running until a date which, first, is subsequent to the delivery of the judgment by which the Court held that there was that infringement of EU law and, second, is prior to the actual payment of the interest on that excess VAT, in so far as that practice is liable to deprive the taxable person of adequate compensation for the loss caused by the unavailability of the amounts concerned and not compensate for the financial burden of the tax amounts unduly withheld.
(
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)	OJ C 340, 5.9.2022.