Pannon Gép Centrum Kft v APEH Központi Hivatal Hatósági Főosztály Dél-dunántúli Kihelyezett Hatósági Osztály.
Date: 2010-07-15
28. It must be recalled in this respect that, although it is not the task of the Court, in preliminary ruling proceedings, to rule upon the compatibility of provisions of national law or a national practice with the legal rules of the European Union, the Court has repeatedly held that it has jurisdiction to give the national court full guidance on the interpretation of European Union law in order to enable it to determine the issue of compatibility for the purposes of the case before it (see Case C‑118/08 Transportes Urbanos y Servicios Generales  [2010] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 23, and case-law there cited).
29. It is therefore appropriate for the Court, in the present case, to restrict its analysis to the provisions of European Union law by providing an interpretation of them which will be of use to the national court, which has the task of determining the compatibility of the provisions of national law or the national practice with European Union law, for the purposes of deciding the dispute before it (see, by analogy, Case C‑380/05 Centro Europa 7  [2008] ECR I‑349, paragraph 51).
33. The fact that the national court has, formally speaking, worded the questions referred for a preliminary ruling with reference solely to provisions of the Sixth Directive does not preclude the Court from providing to the national court all the elements of interpretation which may be of assistance in adjudicating on the case pending before it, whether or not that court has referred to them in the wording of its questions (see, to that effect, Case C‑115/08 ČEZ  [2009] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 81, and Case C‑341/08 Petersen  [2010] ECR I‑0000, paragraph 48).
37. In that regard, it must be recalled that the right to deduct provided for in Article 167 et seq. of Directive 2006/112 is an integral part of the VAT scheme and in principle may not be limited. The right to deduct is exercisable immediately in respect of all the taxes charged on transactions relating to inputs (see, inter alia, Case C‑62/93 BP Soupergaz  [1995] ECR I‑1883, paragraph 18; Joined Cases C‑110/98 to C‑147/98 Gabalfrisa and Others  [2000] ECR I‑1577, paragraph 43, and Joined Cases C‑439/04 and C‑440/04 Kittel and Recolta Recycling  [2006] ECR I‑6161, paragraph 47).
39. However, under Article 178(a) of Directive 2006/112, the exercise of the right of deduction referred to in Article 168(a) of that directive is subject to the condition that an invoice is held. In accordance with Article 220(1) of Directive 2006/112, an invoice must thus be issued for every supply of goods or services which a taxable person makes on behalf of another taxable person.
40. Article 226 of Directive 2006/112 states that, without prejudice to the particular provisions of that directive, only the details listed in that article must obligatorily appear, for VAT purposes, on invoices issued pursuant to Article 220 of that directive.
41. It follows that it is not open to Member States to make the exercise of the right to deduct VAT dependent on compliance with conditions relating to the content of invoices which are not expressly laid down by the provisions of Directive 2006/112. It may be added that that interpretation is supported by Article 273 of that directive which provides that Member States may impose obligations which they deem necessary to ensure the correct collection of VAT and to prevent evasion, but that option may not be relied upon in order to impose additional invoicing obligations over and above those laid down by, inter alia, Article 226 of that directive.
43. Admittedly, as observed by the Hungarian Government, an invoice must, in accordance with Article 226(7) of Directive 2006/112, obligatorily specify the correct date on which the supply of services was completed. However, it is clear from the documents submitted to the Court that, when the first level tax authority denied the applicant the right to deduct the VAT relating to the services supplied to it by the sub‑contractor, the tax authority was already in possession of invoices corrected by the sub‑contractor, specifying the correct dates of completion. Directive 2006/112 does not prohibit the correction of incorrect invoices.
44. In the light of the findings in paragraphs 38 and 41 of this judgment, if the corrected invoices contained all the details required by Directive 2006/112, in particular in Article 226 of that directive, which it is for the national court to determine, it should be held that, in circumstances such as those in the main proceedings, all the material and formal conditions governing whether the applicant is entitled to deduct the VAT relating to the supply of services by the sub-contractor were satisfied. In that regard, it should be noted that Article 226 of Directive 2006/112 imposes no requirement that corrected invoices and credit notes cancelling incorrect invoices must fall within the same series.
45. In those circumstances, the answer to be given to the questions referred is that Articles 167, 178(a), 220(1) and 226 of Directive 2006/112 must be interpreted as precluding national legislation or practice whereby the national authorities deny to a taxable person the right to deduct from the VAT which he is liable to pay the VAT due or paid in respect of services supplied to him on the grounds that the initial invoice, in the possession of the taxable person when the deduction is made, contained an incorrect completion date for the supply of services and the numbering of the subsequently corrected invoice and the credit note cancelling the initial invoice were not sequential, if the material conditions governing deduction are satisfied and, before the tax authority concerned has made a decision, the taxable person has submitted to the tax authority a corrected invoice stating the correct date on which that supply of services was completed, even though the numbering of that invoice and the credit note cancelling the initial invoice are not sequential.
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