Case C-138/12: Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 11 April 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Administrativen sad Varna — Bulgaria) — Rusedespred OOD v Direktor na Direktsia ‘Obzhalvane i upravlenie na izpalnenieto’ — Varna pri Tsentralno upravlenie na Natsionalnata agentsia za prihodite (Taxation — VAT — Directive 2006/112/EC — Article 203 — Principle of fiscal neutrality — Refund to the supplier of tax paid where the recipient under an exempt transaction is refused a right of deduction)
Date: 2013-04-11
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Bulgaria, VAT, equal treatment, interpretation of the law, tax exemption, tax rebate








C_2013156EN.01001302.xml










1.6.2013   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 156/13





Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 11 April 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Administrativen sad Varna — Bulgaria) — Rusedespred OOD v Direktor na Direktsia ‘Obzhalvane i upravlenie na izpalnenieto’ — Varna pri Tsentralno upravlenie na Natsionalnata agentsia za prihodite
(Case C-138/12) (1)

(Taxation - VAT - Directive 2006/112/EC - Article 203 - Principle of fiscal neutrality - Refund to the supplier of tax paid where the recipient under an exempt transaction is refused a right of deduction)
2013/C 156/20
Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Administrativen sad Varna

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Rusedespred OOD

Defendant: Direktor na Direktsia ‘Obzhalvane i upravlenie na izpalnenieto’ — Varna pri Tsentralno upravlenie na Natsionalnata agentsia za prihodite

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling — Administrativen sad — Varna — Interpretation of Article 203 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1) — Principles of fiscal neutrality, effectiveness and equal treatment — Right to deduct input tax — Right of a supplier of goods to claim a refund of tax unduly paid where the right of the recipient of the goods to deduct the tax has been refused because the supply was exempt from tax under national law

Operative part of the judgment







1.


The principle of the neutrality of value added tax, as given specific definition by the case-law relating to Article 203 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax, must be interpreted as precluding a tax authority from refusing, on the basis of a provision of national law intended to transpose that article, the supplier of an exempt supply the refund of value added tax invoiced in error to a customer on the ground that the supplier had not corrected the erroneous invoice, in circumstances where that authority had definitively refused the customer the right to deduct that value added tax and such definitive refusal results in the system for correction provided for under national law no longer being applicable;










2.


The principle of the neutrality of value added tax, as given specific definition by the case-law relating to Article 203 of Directive 2006/112, may be relied on by a taxable person in order to contest a provision of national law that makes the refund of value added tax invoiced in error conditional on the correction of the incorrect invoice, in circumstances where the right to deduct that value added tax has definitively been refused and such definitive refusal results in the system for correction provided for under national law no longer being applicable.






(1)  OJ C 151, 26.5.2012.