CELEX: C2002/169/25
Language: en
Date: 2002-07-13 00:00:00
Title: Case C-78/02: Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Athens Appeal Court by order of that Court of 31 January 2002 in the case of the Greek State against Maria Karageorgou

C 169/14                EN                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                      13.7.2002
                    ORDER OF THE COURT                                      1.   Is it possible to characterise as VAT, within the meaning
                                                                                 of the provisions of the Sixth VAT Directive (77/388/
                         (Third Chamber)                                         EEC) (1), the amount mentioned on an invoice by a person
                                                                                 who provides services to the State as a salaried employee,
                                                                                 when the person providing those services mistakenly
                         of 30 April 2002                                        considers that he is providing services to the State as a
                                                                                 self-employed person whilst, in reality, he is an employee
in Case C-181/01 P: N v Commission of the European                               and, on the recommendation of his employer, charges
                          Communities (1)                                        VAT on the invoices issued by him and not on his total
                                                                                 earnings received from the State, which in law constitute
(Appeal — Officials — Social security — Article 73 of the                        the tax basis of assessment to VAT, subsequently collected
Staff Regulations — Definition of ‘accident’ — Refusal to                        from his earnings, but where the amount thereof is
            recognise HIV infection as an accident)                              determined on the earnings by means of an internal
                                                                                 deduction method and the earnings are regarded as
                          (2002/C 169/24)                                        containing the amount of VAT owed, while the State
                                                                                 reduces the amount of legitimate earnings paid to that
                                                                                 person by the element of VAT they are calculated to
                    (Language of the case: French)                               contain?
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published
                   in the European Court Reports)                           2.   Can there be a departure from the formal principle
                                                                                 governing the tax as set out in Article 21(1)(c) of the
                                                                                 Sixth VAT Directive (77/388/EEC) (that is to say, where
                                                                                 VAT is mentioned on the invoice or other document
In Case C-181/01 P: N, an official of the Commission of                          serving as an invoice, such tax is payable to the State),
the European Communities, residing in Brussels (Belgium),                        where the State, in performing that activity in pursuance
represented by G. Durazzo, — appeal against the judgment of                      of its public authority, is under Article 4(5) of the above
the Court of First Instance of the European Communities in                       directive not subject to tax, so as to render the mechanism
Case T-2/00 N v Commission [2001] ECR-SC I-A-37 and II-                          of deductions inapplicable thereto, and the said tax
135, seeking to have that judgment set aside, the other party                    cannot be and is not passed on to the end consumer
to the proceedings being the Commission of the European                          (namely, the individual who contracts with the State for
Communities, (Agent: J. Currall): — the Court (Third Chamber),                   the translation of documents), the provider of services
composed of: F. Macken, President of the Chamber, C. Gul-                        being entitled to reimbursement of the tax paid to the tax
mann (Rapporteur) and J.-P. Puissochet, Judges; Advocate                         authority after deduction of any input tax in order to
General: L.A. Geelhoed, Registrar: R. Grass, has made an order                   avoid the State’s enrichment as a result thereof?
on 30 April 2002, in which:
1.    The appeal is dismissed.
                                                                            (1) OJ L 145 of 13.6.1977, p. 1.
2.    N is ordered to bear the costs.
(1) OJ C 200 of 14.7.2001.
                                                                            Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Bundesfinanz-
Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Athens Appeal
                                                                            hof by order of that Court of 22 November 2001 in
Court by order of that Court of 31 January 2002 in the
                                                                            the case of Finanzamt Gummersbach against Gerhard
    case of the Greek State against Maria Karageorgou
                                                                                                       Bockemühl
                           (Case C-78/02)
                                                                                                     (Case C-90/02)
                          (2002/C 169/25)
                                                                                                    (2002/C 169/26)
Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
European Communities by order of the Athens Appeal Court
(Greece) of 31 January 2002, received at the Court Registry on
11 March 2002, for a preliminary ruling in the case of the                  Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the
Greek State against Maria Karageorgou on the following                      European Communities by order of the Bundesfinanzhof
questions:                                                                  (Federal Finance Court) of 22 November 2001, received at the