Case C-277/24, Adjak: Judgment of the Court (Ninth Chamber) of 27 February 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny we Wrocławiu – Poland) – M.B. v Dyrektor Izby Administracji Skarbowej we Wrocławiu (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Common system of value added tax (VAT) – Directive 2006/112/EC – Article 273 – Measures to ensure the correct collection of VAT – VAT debt of a taxable person – National legislation which provides for the joint and several liability of the former chairperson of the management board of the taxable person – Participation of the former chairperson of the management board in the proceedings establishing the existence of a VAT debt – Proceedings to invoke joint and several liability – Calling into question of the VAT debt – Rights of the defence – Proportionality)
Date: 2025-02-27
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: VAT, board of directors, ownership, principle of proportionality, right to justice, rights of the defence, rule of law, tax collection, tax law








C_202502175EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/2175


22.4.2025






Judgment of the Court (Ninth Chamber) of 27 February 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny we Wrocławiu – Poland) – M.B. v Dyrektor Izby Administracji Skarbowej we Wrocławiu


(Case C-277/24,
                (1)
Adjak)
                (2)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Common system of value added tax (VAT) - Directive 2006/112/EC - Article 273 - Measures to ensure the correct collection of VAT - VAT debt of a taxable person - National legislation which provides for the joint and several liability of the former chairperson of the management board of the taxable person - Participation of the former chairperson of the management board in the proceedings establishing the existence of a VAT debt - Proceedings to invoke joint and several liability - Calling into question of the VAT debt - Rights of the defence - Proportionality)
(C/2025/2175)
Language of the case: Polish

Referring court

Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny we Wrocławiu

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: M.B.

Defendant: Dyrektor Izby Administracji Skarbowej we Wrocławiu

Operative part of the judgment

Article 273 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax, read in conjunction with Article 325(1) TFEU, the rights of the defence and the principle of proportionality,
must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation and practice under which a third party who may be held jointly and severally liable for the tax debt of a legal person cannot be a party to the proceedings brought against that legal person to establish the tax debt of that legal person, without prejudice to the need for that third party, during any joint and several liability proceedings brought against that third party, to be able effectively to call into question the findings of fact and the legal classifications made by the tax authority in the context of the first set of proceedings, and to have access to the file of the tax authority, in accordance with the rights of that person or of other third parties.


(1)  OJ C C/2024/4446.

(2)  The name of the present case is a fictitious name. It does not correspond to the real name of any party to the proceedings.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/2175/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)