Case C-104/12: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 21 February 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesfinanzhof — Germany) — Finanzamt Köln-Nord v Wolfram Becker (Sixth VAT Directive — Article 17(2)(a) — Right to deduct input tax — Need for a direct and immediate link between an input and an output transaction — Criterion for determining that link — Services of lawyers performed in the context of criminal proceedings for corruption brought in a personal capacity against the managing director and main partner of a limited company)
Date: 2013-02-21
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Germany, VAT, interpretation of the law, lawyer, provision of services, tax relief








C_2013114EN.01002002.xml










20.4.2013   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 114/20





Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 21 February 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesfinanzhof — Germany) — Finanzamt Köln-Nord v Wolfram Becker
(Case C-104/12) (1)

(Sixth VAT Directive - Article 17(2)(a) - Right to deduct input tax - Need for a direct and immediate link between an input and an output transaction - Criterion for determining that link - Services of lawyers performed in the context of criminal proceedings for corruption brought in a personal capacity against the managing director and main partner of a limited company)
2013/C 114/29
Language of the case: German

Referring court

Bundesfinanzhof

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Finanzamt Köln-Nord

Defendant: Wolfram Becker

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling — Bundesfinanzhof — Interpretation of Articles 17(2)(a) and 22(3)(b) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1) — Creation and extent of the right to deduct — Need for a direct and immediate link between the economic activity of the taxable person and the supply of a service — Services provided by lawyers in the context of criminal proceedings relating to corruption charges brought against the managing director and principal executive officer of a public limited company

Operative part of the judgment

The existence of a direct and immediate link between a given transaction and the taxable person’s activity as a whole for the purposes of determining whether the goods and services were used by the latter ‘for the purposes of taxable transactions’ within the meaning of Article 17(2)(a) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment, as amended by Council Directive 2001/115/EC of 20 December 2001, depends on the objective content of the goods or services acquired by that taxable person.
In this case, the supplies of lawyers’ services, whose purpose is to avoid criminal penalties against natural persons, managing directors of a taxable undertaking, do not give that undertaking the right to deduct as input tax the VAT due on the services supplied.


(1)  OJ C 138, 12.5.2012.