Gemeente Woerden v Staatssecretaris van Financiën.
Date: 2016-06-22
30


The Court notes in that regard that, according to settled case-law, the right of taxable persons to deduct the VAT due or paid on goods purchased and services received as inputs from the VAT which they are liable to pay is a fundamental principle of the common system of VAT established by EU law (see judgments of 8 January 2002 in Metropol and Stadler, C‑409/99, EU:C:2002:2, paragraph 42, and of 6 September 2012 in Tóth, C‑324/11, EU:C:2012:549, paragraph 23).
31


In that regard, it is apparent from the case-law of the Court that the right of deduction provided for in Article 167 et seq. of the VAT Directive is an integral part of the VAT scheme and in principle may not be limited. In particular, the right of deduction is exercisable immediately in respect of all the taxes charged on transactions relating to inputs (see judgments of 21 March 2000 in Gabalfrisa and Others, C‑110/98 to C‑147/98, EU:C:2000:145, paragraph 43; of 26 May 2005 in Kretztechnik, C‑465/03, EU:C:2005:320, paragraph 33; of 22 December 2010 in Dankowski, C‑438/09, EU:C:2010:818, paragraph 22, and of 6 December 2012 in Bonik, C‑285/11, EU:C:2012:774, paragraph 26).
32


The deduction system is intended to relieve the trader entirely of the burden of the VAT payable or paid in the course of all his economic activities. The common system of VAT consequently ensures neutrality of taxation of all economic activities, whatever the purpose or results of those activities, provided that they are themselves subject to VAT (judgment of 6 December 2012 in Bonik, C‑285/11, EU:C:2012:774, paragraph 27).
33


It is apparent from the case-law of the Court that VAT applies to each production or distribution transaction after deduction of the VAT directly borne by the various cost components (judgment of 6 December 2012 in Bonik, C‑285/11, EU:C:2012:774, paragraph 28). It follows that, as regards VAT, each transaction must be the subject of a specific evaluation, independently of the VAT due on previous or subsequent transactions.
34


As regards the material conditions to be met for a right to deduct to arise, the Court has held that it is apparent from Article 168(a) of the VAT Directive that the goods and services relied on to give entitlement to that right must be used by the taxable person for the purposes of his own taxed transactions, and that, as inputs, those goods or services must be supplied by another taxable person (judgment of 6 September 2012 in Tóth, C‑324/11, EU:C:2012:549, paragraph 26).
35


Since Article 168 of the VAT Directive does not impose any other condition relating to the use by the person to whom the goods and services at issue are supplied, it must be concluded that, provided the two conditions mentioned in the preceding paragraph are satisfied, a taxable person is, in principle, entitled to deduct input tax.
40


As regards the fact that, in the case in the main proceedings, the taxable person supplied goods at a price which did not cover its full cost, it should be noted that the Court has held that the result of an economic transaction is irrelevant for the right to deduct provided that the activity itself is subject to VAT (see, to that effect, judgments of 20 January 2005 in Hotel Scandic Gåsabäck, C‑412/03, EU:C:2005:47, paragraph 22, and of 9 June 2011 in Campsa Estaciones de Servicio, C‑285/10, EU:C:2011:381, paragraph 25).
41


Moreover, it follows from the case-law of the Court that if the supply price is lower than the cost price, the deduction cannot be limited in proportion to the difference between the supply price and the cost price, even if the supply price is considerably lower than the cost price, unless it is purely symbolic (see, to that effect, judgment of 21 September 1988 in Commission v France, 50/87, EU:C:1988:429, paragraph 16).