Elida Gibbs Ltd v Commissioners of Customs and Excise.
Date: 1996-10-24
18 Before replying to these questions, it is appropriate to describe briefly the basic principle of the VAT system and how it operates.
19 The basic principle of the VAT system is that it is intended to tax only the final consumer. Consequently, the taxable amount serving as a basis for the VAT to be collected by the tax authorities cannot exceed the consideration actually paid by the final consumer which is the basis for calculating the VAT ultimately borne by him.
20 Thus, in Case 89/81 Staatssecretaris van Financiën v Hong Kong Trade [1982] ECR 1277, paragraph 6, the Court held that it was apparent from the First Directive (Council Directive 67/227/EEC of 11 April 1967 on the harmonization of the legislation of the Member States concerning turnover tax (OJ, English Special Edition 1967, p. 16) that one of the principles on which the VAT system was based was neutrality, in the sense that within each country similar goods should bear the same tax burden whatever the length of the production and distribution chain.
21 That basic principle clarifies the role and obligations of taxable persons within the machinery established for the collection of VAT.
22 It is not, in fact, the taxable persons who themselves bear the burden of VAT. The sole requirement imposed on them, when they take part in the production and distribution process prior to the stage of final taxation, regardless of the number of transactions involved, is that, at each stage of the process, they collect the tax on behalf of the tax authorities and account for it to them.
23 In order to guarantee complete neutrality of the machinery as far as taxable persons are concerned, the Sixth Directive provides, in Title XI, for a system of deductions designed to ensure that the taxable person is not improperly charged VAT. As the Court held in its judgment in Case 15/81 Schul v Inspecteur der Invoerrechten en Accijnzen [1982] ECR 1409, paragraph 10, a basic feature of the VAT system is that VAT is chargeable on each transaction only after deduction of the amount of VAT borne directly by the cost of the various price components of the goods and services. The procedure for deduction is so arranged that only taxable persons are authorized to deduct from the VAT for which they are liable the VAT which the goods and services have already borne.
24 It follows that, having regard in each case to the machinery of the VAT system, its operation and the role of the intermediaries, the tax authorities may not in any circumstances charge an amount exceeding the tax paid by the final consumer.
26 By virtue of Article 11(A)(1)(a) of the Sixth Directive, the taxable amount for supplies of goods and services within the territory of a state comprises all sums which make up the consideration which has been or is to be obtained by the supplier from the purchaser.
27 According to the Court' s settled case-law, that consideration is the "subjective" value, that is to say, the value actually received in each specific case, and not a value estimated according to objective criteria (see Hong Kong Trade, cited above, paragraph 13, Case 230/87 Naturally Yours Cosmetics [1988] ECR 6365, paragraph 16, and Case C-126/88 Boots Company v Commissioners of Customs and Excise [1990] ECR I-1235, paragraph 19).
28 In circumstances such as those in the main proceedings, the manufacturer, who has refunded the value of the money-off coupon to the retailer or the value of the cash-back coupon to the final consumer, receives, on completion of the transaction, a sum corresponding to the sale price paid by the wholesalers or retailers for his goods, less the value of those coupons. It would not therefore be in conformity with the directive for the taxable amount used to calculate the VAT chargeable to the manufacturer, as a taxable person, to exceed the sum finally received by him. Were that the case, the principle of neutrality of VAT vis-à-vis taxable persons, of whom the manufacturer is one, would not be complied with.
29 Consequently, the taxable amount attributable to the manufacturer as a taxable person must be the amount corresponding to the price at which he sold the goods to the wholesalers or retailers, less the value of those coupons.
30 That interpretation is borne out by Article 11(C)(1) of the Sixth Directive which, in order to ensure the neutrality of the taxable person' s position, provides that, in the case of cancellation, refusal or total or partial non-payment, or where the price is reduced after the supply takes place, the taxable amount is to be reduced accordingly under conditions to be determined by the Member States.
31 It is true that that provision refers to the normal case of contractual relations entered into directly between two contracting parties, which are modified subsequently. The fact remains, however, that the provision is an expression of the principle, emphasized above, that the position of taxable persons must be neutral. It follows therefore from that provision that, in order to ensure observance of the principle of neutrality, account should be taken, when calculating the taxable amount for VAT, of situations where a taxable person who, having no contractual relationship with the final consumer but being the first link in a chain of transactions which ends with the final consumer, grants the consumer a reduction through retailers or by direct repayment of the value of the coupons. Otherwise, the tax authorities would receive by way of VAT a sum greater than that actually paid by the final consumer, at the expense of the taxable person.
32 That interpretation is not invalidated by the arguments advanced by the United Kingdom, German and Greek Governments to the effect that deduction from the taxable amount of reductions granted directly, or of refunds made directly, to the consumer by the initial supplier after delivery to a wholesaler or retailer would upset the functioning of the VAT machinery and render the system unworkable because it would require each wholesaler or retailer in the chain retroactively to adjust the price and, consequently, the amount of VAT they had paid to their own supplier and would require the latter to issue amended invoices.
33 The VAT system is not disturbed as a result of such deduction since there is no need to readjust the taxable amount for the intermediate transactions. On the contrary, that amount remains unchanged since, for those transactions, observance of the principle of neutrality is ensured by application of the conditions for deduction set out in Title XI of the Sixth Directive. Under those conditions, the intermediate links in the distribution chain, such as wholesalers and retailers, may deduct from their own taxable amount the sums paid by each to his own supplier in respect of VAT on the corresponding transaction and thus pass on to the tax authorities the part of the VAT representing the difference between the price paid by each to his supplier and the price at which he supplied the goods to his purchaser.
34 In view of all the foregoing considerations, the answer to the first question submitted must be that Article 11(A)(1)(a) and Article 11(C)(1) of the Sixth Directive are to be interpreted as meaning that where (a) a manufacturer issues a money-off coupon, which is redeemable at the amount stated on the coupon by or at the expense of the manufacturer in favour of the retailer, (b) the coupon, which is distributed to a potential customer in the course of a sales promotion campaign, may be accepted by the retailer in payment for a specified item of goods, (c) the manufacturer has sold the specified item at the "original supplier' s price" direct to the retailer and (d) the retailer takes the coupon from the customer on sale of the item, presents it to the manufacturer and is paid the stated amount, the taxable amount is equal to the selling price charged by the manufacturer, less the amount indicated on the voucher and refunded. The same applies if the original supply is made by the manufacturer to a wholesaler rather than directly to a retailer.
35 The answer to the second question must then be that Article 11(A)(1)(a) and Article 11(C)(1) of the Sixth Directive are to be interpreted as meaning that where (a) in the course of a promotion scheme a manufacturer sells items of goods at the "manufacturer' s price" direct to a retailer, (b) a cash-back coupon for an amount stated on the packaging of those items entitles the customer, if he proves purchase of one of those items and satisfies other conditions printed on the coupon, to present the coupon to the manufacturer in return for payment of the stated amount, and (c) a customer purchases such an item from a retailer, presents the coupon to the manufacturer and is paid the stated amount, the taxable amount is equal to the selling price charged by the manufacturer, less the amount indicated on the coupon and refunded. The same applies if the original supply is made by the manufacturer to a wholesaler rather than directly to a retailer.