Tax & Legal

In two combined requests for a preliminary ruling from the Berlin-Brandenburg Tax Court, the General Court of the EU decided that the purchase of tobacco products by a private individual in one Member State for the purpose of transferring them free of charge to a third party in another Member State is not eligible for exemption from tobacco tax as being for “personal use”.

Expenses incurred for business travel by private car are generally considered unreasonable and therefore cannot be fully deducted as income-related expenses if the taxpayer is provided with a company car and would not have incurred any travel expenses had he used it. This is the conclusion of the Supreme Tax Court in a recently published decision.

The European Court of Justice held that the issue of vouchers for third-party retailers to employees by a taxable person as part of a recognition program for high-performing employees do not constitute a supply “for the private use of the entrepreneur or for that of his staff or, more generally, for purposes other than those of his business” within the meaning of Article 26(1)(b) of the VAT Directive.

In December 2016 the Finance Ministry issued a decree dealing with the tax implications of privately used comapny cars in case of a leasing, whereby also commenting on an earlier judgment of the Supreme Court on a so called "government lease".

The right to deduct input VAT may be excluded only in cases in which the goods acquired are used, to an extent greater than 90%, for purposes other than the taxable person’s business, and not where the goods are used for non-economic purposes (such as: in the course of public activities).

The finance ministry has published a decree with sample calculations of the taxable benefit from the private use of a company car powered by electricity.

The Supreme Tax Court has reaffirmed its position that the taxable benefit from using a company car to go to work depends on the actual use of the car. By contrast it now has doubts on the provision of a chauffeur as a benefit.