Christine Nigl and Others v Finanzamt Waldviertel.
Date: 2016-10-12
26


It is important, in this regard, to recall that, under Article 4(1) of the Sixth Directive and Article 9 of the VAT Directive, ‘taxable person’ means any person who independently carries out in any place any economic activity, whatever the purpose or results of that activity (see, inter alia, judgments of26 March 1987, Commission v Netherlands, 235/85, EU:C:1987:161, paragraph 6; of 16 September 2008, Isle of Wight Council and Others, C‑288/07, EU:C:2008:505, paragraph 27; and of 29 October 2009, Commission v Finland, C‑246/08, EU:C:2009:671, paragraph 35).
27


The terms used in Article 4(1) of the Sixth Directive and in Article 9(1) of the VAT Directive, in particular the term ‘any person who’, give to the notion of ‘taxable person’ a broad definition focused on independence in the pursuit of an economic activity to the effect that all persons — natural or legal, both public and private, even entities devoid of legal personality — which, in an objective manner, satisfy the criteria set out in that provision must be regarded as being taxable persons for the purposes of VAT (see, to that effect, judgment of 29 September 2015, Gmina Wrocław, C‑276/14, EU:C:2015:635, paragraph 28).
28


In order to establish that an economic activity is being carried out in an independent manner, it is necessary to examine whether the person concerned performs his activities in his own name, on his own behalf and under his own responsibility, and whether he bears the economic risk associated with the carrying-out of those activities (judgments of 27 January 2000, Heerma, C‑23/98, EU:C:2000:46, paragraph 18; of 18 October 2007, van der Steen, C‑355/06, EU:C:2007:615, paragraph 23, and of 29 September 2015, Gmina WrocławC‑276/14, EU:C:2015:635, paragraph 34).
37


It must be recalled that the common flat-rate scheme for farmers is a scheme which derogates from and is an exception to the general scheme of the Sixth Directive and the VAT Directive and which must therefore be applied only to the extent necessary to achieve its objective (judgments of 15 July 2004, Harbs, C‑321/02, EU:C:2004:447, paragraph 27; of 26 May 2005, Stadt Sundern, C‑43/04, EU:C:2005:324, paragraph 27; and of 8 March 2012, Commission v Portugal, C‑524/10, EU:C:2012:129, paragraph 49).
38


Among the two objectives of that scheme is that relating to the need for simplification, which must be reconciled with the objective of offsetting the input VAT borne by farmers (see, to that effect, judgments of 26 May 2005, Stadt Sundern, C‑43/04, EU:C:2005:324, paragraph 28, and of 8 March 2012, Commission v Portugal, C‑524/10, EU:C:2012:129, paragraph 50).
48


It is appropriate to recall that the principle of legal certainty does not preclude the tax authorities from carrying out, within the limitation period, an assessment for VAT relating to the deducted tax or to services already provided and which should have been subject to VAT (see, to that effect, judgments of 6 February 2014, Fatorie, C‑424/12, EU:C:2014:50, paragraphs 47 and 48, and of 9 July 2015, Cabinet Medical Veterinar Dr. Tomoiagă Andrei, C‑144/14, EU:C:2015:452, paragraph 42).