Tax & Legal

In a most recently published judgment, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) held that the VAT Directive precludes a national legislation which provides that one of the partners in a civil law partnership devoid of legal personality separate from that of its partners and providing taxable services is to be deemed to be the person liable to pay value added tax in respect of taxable services provided by the other partners in that partnership.

The request for a preliminary ruling from Bulgaria concerns the joint and several liability of a third party for the VAT debts of a person liable for payment of that VAT (a company) where that person no longer exists, and where the liability of that third party was not prescribed until after that company’s liquidation (here, removal of the principal debtor from the commercial register).

The request for a preliminary ruling from Bulgaria concerns the joint and several liability of a third party for the VAT debts of a person liable for payment of that VAT (a company) where that person no longer exists, and where the liability of that third party was not prescribed until after that company’s liquidation. The Advocate General has submitted her Opinion.

In a Czech request for a preliminary ruling, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) dealt with the joint and several liability of the recipient of a supply who supposedly was involved in VAT fraud for VAT not paid by the supplier. According to the judgment of the ECJ, Article 205 of the VAT Directive does not prevent the recipient from being held liable under such circumstances.

Following a request for a preliminary ruling from the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, the European Court of Justice commented on the Dutch legislation providing for joint and several liability of the establishment's administrator and specifically the circumstances under which the shareholder and managing director of a Dutch holding company may be held liable for the company’s inability to pay the taxes due.

The European Court of Justice decided that the VAT Directive does in certain defined circumstances not preclude a national regulation providing for an automatic joint and several liability for VAT debts and late payment interest thereon. In its current judgment the ECJ specifically confirmed that the Bulgarian regulation on automatic joint and several liability for VAT debts of a legal entity does not violate EU law. This applies, for example, if the jointly and severally liable person is the managing director of the legal entity.

The Supreme Tax Court has held that there is no way for the beneficiary of pledged trade accounts receivable to contract out of statutory liability for the VAT included in the amounts collected.