Case C-492/13: Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 9 October 2014 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Administrativen sad Varna — Bulgaria) — Traum EOOD v Direktor na Direktsia ‘Obzhalvane i danachno-osiguritelna praktika’ Varna pri Tsentralno upravlenie na Natsionalnata agentsia za prihodite (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Taxation — VAT — Directive 2006/112/EC — Article 138(1) — Exemptions for intra-Community transactions — Purchaser not registered for VAT purposes — Whether the vendor is required to establish the authenticity of the signature of the purchaser or his representative — Principles of proportionality, legal certainty and protection of legitimate expectations — Direct effect)
Date: 2014-10-09
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: VAT, intra-EU relations, principle of legal certainty, principle of proportionality, tax exemption








C_2014439EN.01001101.xml










8.12.2014   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 439/11





Judgment of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 9 October 2014 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Administrativen sad Varna — Bulgaria) — Traum EOOD v Direktor na Direktsia ‘Obzhalvane i danachno-osiguritelna praktika’ Varna pri Tsentralno upravlenie na Natsionalnata agentsia za prihodite
(Case C-492/13) (1)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Taxation - VAT - Directive 2006/112/EC - Article 138(1) - Exemptions for intra-Community transactions - Purchaser not registered for VAT purposes - Whether the vendor is required to establish the authenticity of the signature of the purchaser or his representative - Principles of proportionality, legal certainty and protection of legitimate expectations - Direct effect))
(2014/C 439/15)
Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Administrativen sad Varna

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Traum EOOD

Defendant: Direktor na Direktsia ‘Obzhalvane i danachno-osiguritelna praktika’ Varna pri Tsentralno upravlenie na Natsionalnata agentsia za prihodite

Operative part of the judgment







1)


Articles 138(1) and 139(1), second subparagraph, of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax, as amended by Council Directive 2010/88/EU of 7 December 2010, must be interpreted as precluding, in circumstances such as those in the main proceedings, the tax authorities of a Member State from refusing to grant an exemption from value added tax in respect of an intra-Community supply of goods on the ground that the purchaser was not registered for value added tax purposes in another Member State and the supplier has proven neither the authenticity of the signature on the documents submitted in support of its declaration in respect of a supply it claims to be exempt from value added tax nor that the person who signed those documents on behalf of the purchaser had the authority to represent the purchaser, where the evidence establishing entitlement to the exemption submitted by the supplier in support of its declaration is consistent with the list of documents to be submitted to those authorities under national law and has been accepted by them, initially, as supporting evidence, which is a matter for the referring court to verify.










2)


Article 138(1) of Directive 2006/112, as amended by Directive 2010/88, must be interpreted as having direct effect, so that it may be relied upon by taxable persons before national courts against the State in order to obtain an exemption from value added tax in respect of an intra-Community supply of goods.






(1)  OJ C 344, 23.11.2013.