Valsts ieņēmumu dienests v Ablessio SIA.
Date: 2013-03-14
18. The essential aim of identifying taxable persons, as provided for under Article 214 of Directive 2006/112, is to ensure that the VAT system operates properly (see, to that effect, Case C-438/09 Dankowski [2010] ECR I-14009, paragraph 33).
19. In that regard, the Court has already held that the allocation of a VAT identification number provides proof of the tax status of the taxable person for the purposes of applying VAT and simplifies the inspection of taxable persons with a view to ensuring the correct collection of the tax. Under the transitional arrangements for tax applicable to trade within the European Union, the identification of taxable persons subject to VAT by means of an individual number also facilitates the determination of the Member State in which the final consumption of the goods delivered takes place (see, to that effect, Case C-273/11 Mecsek-Gabona  [2012] ECR I-0000, paragraphs 57 and 60, and Case C-587/10 VSTR  [2012] ECR I-0000, paragraph 51).
22. It must be observed that, although Article 214 of Directive 2006/112 lists the categories of persons who must be identified by an individual number, that provision does not stipulate the conditions which may be placed on the issuing of the VAT identification number. Indeed, it follows from the wording of that article and Article 213 of Directive 2006/112 that Member States have a certain discretion when they adopt measures to ensure the identification of taxable persons for the purposes of VAT.
25. According to the case-law of the Court, that concept should be given a broad interpretation. Any person with the intention, as confirmed by objective elements, of independently starting an economic activity, and who incurs the initial investment expenditure for those purposes must be regarded as a taxable person (see, to that effec t, Case C-400/98 Breitsohl  [2000] ECR I-4321, paragraph 34, and Case C-280/10 Polski Trawertyn  [2012] ECR I-0000, paragraph 30).
28. However, according to settled case-law of the Court, Member States have a legitimate interest in taking appropriate steps to protect their financial interests, and the prevention of tax evasion, avoidance and abuse is an objective recognised and encouraged by Directive 2006/112 (see, in particular, Case C-255/02 Halifax and Others  [2006] ECR I-1609, paragraph 71; Case C-285/09 R. [2010] ECR I‑12605, paragraph 36; and Case C-525/11 Mednis [2012] ECR I-0000, paragraph 31).
29. Furthermore, Member States are obliged to guarantee the accuracy of the entries in the register of taxable persons to ensure that the VAT system operates properly. It therefore falls to the competent national authority to check an applicant’s status as a taxable person before it assigns that person a VAT identification number (see Mecsek-Gabona , paragraph 63).
30. Therefore, Member States can, in accordance with Article 273, first paragraph, of Directive 2006/112, legitimately take measures that are necessary to prevent the misuse of identification numbers, in particular by undertakings whose activity, and consequently their status as taxable persons, is purely fictitious. However, these measures must not go beyond what is necessary for the correct collection of the tax and the prevention of evasion, and they must not systematically undermine the right to deduct VAT, and hence the neutrality of that tax (see, to that effect, Case C-146/05 Collée  [2007] ECR I-7861, paragraph 26; Nidera Handelscompagnie , paragraph 49; Dankowski , paragraph 37; and VSTR , paragraph 44).
32. It should be recalled that, under settled case-law of the Court, the identification as provided for under Article 214 of Directive 2006/112 and the obligations stipulated under Article 213 are only formal requirements for the purposes of control, and they cannot undermine, inter alia, the right of deduction or the right of exemption from VAT for an intra-Community supply, where the substantive conditions which give rise to these rights are satisfied (see, to that effect, Nidera Handelscompagnie , paragraph 50; Case C-263/11 Rēdlihs  [2012] ECR I-0000, paragraph 48; and Mecsek-Gabona , paragraph 60).
33. It follows from this case-law that the registration of a taxable person in the register of taxable persons subject to VAT is a formal requirement, such that a taxable person cannot be prevented from exercising his right of deduction on the ground that he had not been identified as a taxable person for VAT purposes before using the goods purchased in the context of his taxed activity (see, to that effect, Nidera Handelscompagnie , paragraph 51, and Dankowski , paragraphs 33, 34 and 36). Therefore, the refusal to assign a VAT identification number cannot, in principle, have any effect on the taxable person’s right to deduct input VAT if the material conditions giving rise to that right have been fulfilled.
35. It is for the referring court – which alone has jurisdiction both to interpret the national law and to find and assess the facts in the case before it and, in particular, the way in which that law is applied by the tax authority (see, to that effect, Mednis , paragraph 33 and the case-law cited) – to determine whether the national measures are compatible with European Union law, in particular the principle of proportionality. The Court of Justice is competent only to provide that court with the criteria for the interpretation which may enable it to make such a determination as to compatibility (see, to that effect, Case C-55/94 Gebhard [1995] ECR I-4165, paragraph 19 and Case C-188/09 Profaktor Kulesza, Frankowski, Jóźwiak, Orłowski  [2010] ECR I-7639, paragraph 30).