Tax & Legal

The finance ministry has decreed that builders may reduce their taxable turnover by the amount of a customer retention that cannot be collected for two to five years, unless they could have satisfied their customer’s need for security with a bank guarantee.

The finance ministry has directed tax offices not to follow a Supreme Tax Court judgment restricting a reverse chargeable building installation to items of major significance for the construction, continued existence, maintenance or use of the building.

The Supreme Tax Court has held that a smoke extraction assembly is an installation in a building, rather than part of a building, and thus subject to mainstream VAT.

The Supreme Tax Court has held that a demolition provision to meet an obligation to return land to the owner in its original state at the end of the lease must be reduced as necessary to reflect the new expiry date, if the lease is extended.

The finance ministry has amplified its acceptance of a Supreme Tax Court judgment on building trade reverse charges with changeover provisions for work straddling the changeover deadline.

The Supreme Tax Court has held that the reverse charge in the building trade presupposes that the business customer uses the inputs for his own turnover in building works and services.