CELEX: 62012CA0440
Language: en
Date: 2013-10-24 00:00:00
Title: Case C-440/12: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 24 October 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Finanzgericht Hamburg — Germany) — Metropol Spielstätten Unternehmergesellschaft (haftungsbeschränkt) v Finanzamt Hamburg-Bergedorf (Taxation — VAT — Betting and gaming — Legislation of a Member State under which VAT and a special tax are to be levied cumulatively on the operation of low-prize slot machines — Whether permissible — Basis of assessment — Whether the taxable person can pass on the VAT)

14.12.2013   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 367/19
            
         Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 24 October 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Finanzgericht Hamburg — Germany) — Metropol Spielstätten Unternehmergesellschaft (haftungsbeschränkt) v Finanzamt Hamburg-Bergedorf
   (Case C-440/12) (1)
   
   (Taxation - VAT - Betting and gaming - Legislation of a Member State under which VAT and a special tax are to be levied cumulatively on the operation of low-prize slot machines - Whether permissible - Basis of assessment - Whether the taxable person can pass on the VAT)
   2013/C 367/33
   Language of the case: German
   
      Referring court
   
   Finanzgericht Hamburg
   
      Parties to the main proceedings
   
   
      Applicant: Metropol Spielstätten Unternehmergesellschaft (haftungsbeschränkt)
   
      Defendant: Finanzamt Hamburg-Bergedorf
   
      Re:
   
   Request for a preliminary ruling — Finanzgericht Hamburg — Interpretation of the first sentence of Article 1(2), Article 73, Article 135(1)(i) and Article 401 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1) — Taxation of betting and gaming — Legislation of a Member State under which VAT and a special tax are to be levied cumulatively on the operation of low-prize slot machines
   
      Operative part of the judgment
   
   
               1.
            
            
               Article 401 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax, read in conjunction with Article 135(1)(i) thereof, must be interpreted as meaning that value added tax and a special national tax on games of chance may be levied cumulatively, provided that the special national tax cannot be characterised as a tax on turnover;
            
         
               2.
            
            
               The first sentence of Article 1(2) and Article 73 of Directive 2006/112 must be interpreted as not precluding a national provision or practice whereby, in the operation of gaming machines offering the possibility of winnings, the amount of the cash receipts from those machines is used after a set interval as the basis of assessment;
            
         
               3.
            
            
               Article 1(2) of Directive 2006/112 must be interpreted as not precluding a national system regulating an unharmonised tax, under which the value added tax owed is to be set in full against that tax.
            
         
      (1)  OJ C 389, 15.12.2012.