UAB "Sveda" v Valstybinė mokesčių inspekcija prie Lietuvos Respublikos finansų ministerijos.
Date: 2015-10-22
16. In order to answer that question, it should, as a preliminary point, be recalled that the right of deduction provided for in Article 168(a) of the VAT Directive 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 input transactions (see, to that effect, judgment in SKF , C‑29/08, EU:C:2009:665, paragraph 55 and the case-law cited).
17. 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 their purpose or results, provided that they are themselves subject in principle to VAT (see, inter alia, judgment in Eon Aset Menidjmunt , C‑118/11, EU:C:2012:97, paragraph 43 and the case-law cited).
18. It follows from Article 168 of the VAT Directive that, in so far as the taxable person, acting as such at the time when he acquires goods, uses the goods for the purposes of his taxed transactions, he is entitled to deduct the VAT paid or payable in respect of the goods (see, inter alia, judgment in Klub , C‑153/11, EU:C:2012:163, paragraph 36 and the case-law cited).
19. As regards, in the first place, whether Sveda was acting as a taxable person during construction of the recreational path, that is to say, for the purposes of an economic transaction, within the meaning of the second subparagraph of Article 9(1) of the VAT Directive, it should be noted that goods and services may be acquired, by a taxable person, for the purposes of an economic activity within the meaning of that provision, even if the goods are not used immediately for that economic activity (see, to that effect, judgment in Lennartz , C‑97/90, EU:C:1991:315, paragraph 14).
20. It is settled case-law that a person who incurs investment expenditure with the intention, confirmed by objective evidence, of engaging in economic activity within the meaning of Article 9(1) of the VAT Directive must be regarded as a taxable person. Acting in that capacity, he has therefore, in accordance with Article 167 et seq. of that directive, the right immediately to deduct the VAT payable or paid on the investment expenditure incurred for the purposes of the transactions which he intends to carry out and which give rise to the right to deduct (see, to that effect, judgment in Gran Via Moineşti , C‑257/11, EU:C:2012:759, paragraph 27 and the case-law cited). That right to deduct arises, in accordance with Articles 63 and 167 of the VAT Directive, at the time when the tax becomes chargeable, namely when the goods are delivered (judgment in Klub , C‑153/11, EU:C:2012:163, paragraph 36 and the case-law cited).
21. Whether a taxable person acts as such for the purposes of an economic activity is a question of fact which must be assessed in the light of all the circumstances of the case, including the nature of the asset concerned and the period between the acquisition of the asset and its use for the purposes of the taxable person’s economic activity (see, inter alia, to that effect, judgment in Klub , C‑153/11, EU:C:2012:163, paragraphs 40 and 41 and the case-law cited). It is for the referring court to make that assessment.
27. According to settled case-law, the existence of a direct and immediate link between a particular input transaction and a particular output transaction or transactions giving rise to entitlement to deduct is, in principle, necessary before the taxable person is entitled to deduct input VAT and in order to determine the extent of such entitlement. The right to deduct VAT charged on the acquisition of input goods or services presupposes that the expenditure incurred in acquiring them was a component of the cost of the output transactions that gave rise to the right to deduct (see, inter alia, judgment in SKF , C‑29/08, EU:C:2009:665, paragraph 57).
28. Nevertheless, as the Advocate General observed in points 33 and 34 of her Opinion, the Court has held that a taxable person also has a right to deduct even where there is no direct and immediate link between a particular input transaction and an output transaction or transactions giving rise to the right to deduct, where the expenditure incurred is part of his general costs and are, as such, components of the price of the goods or services which he supplies. Such expenditure does have a direct and immediate link with the taxable person’s economic activity as a whole (see, to that effect, judgments in Investrand , C‑435/05, EU:C:2007:87, paragraph 24, and SKF , C‑29/08, EU:C:2009:665, paragraph 58).
29. It is apparent from the case-law of the Court that, in the context of the direct-link test that is to be applied by the tax authorities and national courts, they should consider all the circumstances surrounding the transactions concerned and take account only of the transactions which are objectively linked to the taxable person’s taxable activity. The existence of such a link must thus be assessed in the light of the objective content of the transaction in question (see, to that effect, judgment in Becker , C‑104/12, EU:C:2013:99, paragraphs 22, 23 and 33 and the case-law cited).
32. In that regard, the case-law of the Court makes it clear that, where goods or services acquired by a taxable person are used for purposes of transactions that are exempt or do not fall within the scope of VAT, no output tax can be collected or input tax deducted (judgment in Eon Aset Menidjmunt , C‑118/11, EU:C:2012:97, paragraph 44 and the case-law cited). In both cases, the direct and immediate link between the input expenditure incurred and the economic activities subsequently carried out by the taxable person is severed.
36. Moreover, adjustment periods for deductions do not have, as such, any effect on the origin of the right to deduction of VAT (see, to that effect, judgment in Lennartz , C‑97/90, EU:C:1991:315, paragraphs 8 and 20), which, according to the case-law cited in paragraph 20 of the present judgment, is determined solely by the capacity in which the interested party is acting when acquiring the goods concerned. This applies, however, without prejudice to the repayment of input VAT, which the taxable person will have to effect if it subsequently proves that the acquired or produced input goods have not been used for the purposes of his economic activity.