Tax & Legal

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the reverse charge is applicable to the leasing of real property located in Austria because the Jersey based lessor, in lieu of own local staff to perform services relating to the letting, does not have a permanent establishment (fixed place of business) in Austria.

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 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.

The ECJ has held that Germany has been authorised to reverse charge all construction work for other builders, regardless of whether the service or the goods element of the supply predominates.

The finance ministry has amended its VAT Implementation Decree in the light of the new reverse charge on wholesale sales of mobile phones and integrated circuits.

The Supreme Tax Court has held that a foreign business required to file a VAT return for the year, does so for the full year. Its input tax can therefore be recovered in full.

From July 1, 2011 the VAT on B2B sales of mobile phones and integrated circuits is payable by the customer where the consideration is at least €5,000.