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03.07.2023

Tax & Financial Standards New Judgments of the ECJ For June 2023

Tax & Financial Standards New Judgments of the ECJ For June 2023
Tax&Financial Standards (T&FSt) – International Financial Reporting Standards, Date or entry into force: 1.01.2023 (consolidated version), in 4 languages - Bulgarian, English, German and French
New judgments
С-322/22 of 8 June 2023
Principle of sincere cooperation – Principle of effectiveness – Tax levied by a Member State in breach of EU law – Breach established following a ruling of the Court of Justice – Right to be paid interest on the overpayment – National legislation limiting the right to the payment of interest to the period running until the thirtieth day following the publication of the ruling of the Court of Justice in the Official Journal of the European Union
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
The principle of effectiveness, in conjunction with the principle of sincere cooperation, must be interpreted as precluding a piece of national legislation which, when a request for a refund of an overpayment of tax is submitted more than 30 days after the publication in the Official Journal of the European Union of a ruling of the Court of Justice from which the finding that the tax at issue is contrary to EU law is derived, limits the running of the interest on the overpayment due to the taxable person concerned to the thirtieth day following that publication, or even excludes interest entirely in a situation where that overpayment was incurred by the taxable person after that thirtieth day.
Proceedings concerning a decision by the Polish tax authorities to limit and to refuse the payment of interest on overpayments of tax incurred in breach of EU law.
С-455/21 of 8 June 2023
Consumer protection — Unfair terms in consumer contracts — Contract for membership of a loyalty scheme enabling certain financial benefits to be obtained when purchasing goods and services from third-party traders — Definition of ‘consumer’
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Scope of the concept of “consumer”. A natural person who becomes a member of a scheme implemented by a commercial company and allowing, inter alia, certain financial benefits in connection with the purchase, by that natural person or by other persons participating in that scheme further to his or her referral, of goods and services from that company’s business partners, where that natural person is acting for purposes which are outside his or her trade, business or profession.
Proceedings, concerning certain terms in the general terms and conditions of a contract for membership of a loyalty scheme enabling certain financial benefits to be obtained when goods and services are purchased from third-party traders.
С-545/21 of 8 June 2023
Structural Funds — Conduct presumed to be likely to favour an economic operator during an award procedure — Financial corrections by Member States in connection with irregularities detected — Criteria to be applied — Concept of ‘irregularity’
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
The Member States, in order to determine the applicable financial correction, must carry out an assessment on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with the principle of proportionality, taking into account, inter alia, the nature and seriousness of the irregularities found and their financial impact on the fund concerned. Behaviour liable to be classified as ‘acts of corruption’ carried out in the context of a procedure for the award of a public contract for the performance of works co-financed by an EU structural fund for which administrative or judicial proceedings have been initiated.
Concept of ‘irregularity’.
A dispute concerning the lawfulness of decision determining the recovery of the sums paid under an operational programme including a contract for the performance of road works, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), approved by Commission Decision C(2007) 6318 of 7 December 2007, finally amended by Commission Decision C(2016) 6409 of 13 October 2016.
С-570/21 of 8 June 2023
Consumer protection — Unfair terms in consumer contracts — Dual-purpose contract — Judgment in relation to a credit agreement which relates partly to the economic activity of the borrower and partly to purposes outside that activity — Concept of consumer
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Dual-purpose contract entered into by a person pursuing a professional or commercial activity and by another person not pursuing a professional activity. Marginality or non-predominance of the professional or commercial purpose in the overall context of the contract entered into. A person, when, being engaged in a commercial or professional activity, who has entered into a loan agreement along with another borrower who is not engaged in the same activity, if he or she has acted partly within the scope of his or her own activity and partly outside it.
Proceedings concerning payment of a sum together with interest, received from a bank pursuant to clauses contained in a mortgage loan contract indexed to the foreign currency exchange rate.
С-292/22 of 15 June 2023
Customs union – Common Customs Tariff – Classification of goods – Combined Nomenclature – Refined palm oil, bleached and deodorised – No method laid down for analysing the consistency of a product
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
The Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System. In the absence of methods and criteria defined in the Combined Nomenclature for the purposes of determining whether a food preparation of palm oil which is not covered by heading 1516 of that nomenclature has undergone treatment other than refining, the customs authorities may choose the appropriate method for that purpose, provided that it is capable of producing results consistent with that nomenclature, which it is for the national court to verify.
Proceedings concerning a decision imposing a financial penalty on the latter for customs fraud on the ground that the tariff classification of the goods imported and declared by a company in April 2019 and September 2020 was incorrect.
С-411/22 of 15 June 2023
Social security — Social advantages — Difference in treatment — COVID-19 — Isolation of employees ordered by the national health authority — Compensation of those employees by the employer — Reimbursement of the employer by the competent authority — Exclusion of frontier workers required to isolate under a measure taken by the authority of their State of residence — Concepts of „sickness benefits“ and „social advantage“.
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Compensation, financed by the State, which is due to workers for the pecuniary disadvantages caused by the impediment to their employment during their isolation as persons infected with, suspected of being infected with, or suspected of being contagious with COVID-19. Legislation of a Member State under which the granting of compensation for loss of earnings suffered by workers as a result of isolation ordered following a positive COVID-19 test result is subject to the condition that the imposition of the isolation measure be ordered by an authority of that Member State.
Concepts of „sickness benefits“ and „social advantage“.
Proceedings between Th and the district administrative authority concerning the latter’s refusal to compensate Th for loss of earnings suffered by its employees during periods of isolation at their respective places of residence in Slovenia and Hungary, imposed in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic by the competent authorities of those Member States.
С-520/21 of 15 June 2023
Unfair terms in consumer contracts – Mortgage loan indexed to a foreign currency – Conversion clauses – Effects of a finding that a clause is unfair – Effects of the annulment of a contract in its entirety – Possibility of asserting claims that go beyond the reimbursement of the amounts agreed in the contract and the payment of default interest – Damage incurred by the consumer – Damage incurred by the bank – Deterrent effect of the prohibition on unfair terms – Effective protection of the consumer – Judicial interpretation of national legislation
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Consumer protection. Unjust enrichment. A judicial interpretation of national law according to which the consumer has the right to seek compensation from the credit institution going beyond reimbursement of the monthly instalments paid and the expenses paid in respect of the performance of that agreement together with the payment of default interest at the statutory rate from the date on which notice is served, provided that the objectives of Directive 93/13 and the principle of proportionality are observed. A judicial interpretation of national law according to which the credit institution is entitled to seek compensation from the consumer going beyond reimbursement of the capital paid in respect of the performance of that agreement together with the payment of default interest at the statutory rate.
Proceedings concerning an action for recovery of a debt which results from the use of funds derived from a mortgage loan agreement that had to be annulled on the ground that that agreement cannot continue to exist after the removal of the unfair terms.

May

С-114/22 of 25 May 2023
Value added tax – Right to deduct VAT – Refusal based on the invalidity of the transaction under national civil law - Derogations from the right to deduct VAT are allowed only in the cases expressly provided for by the provisions of Directive 2006/112
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
The principles of fiscal neutrality and proportionality, must be interpreted as precluding national legislation under which a taxable person is deprived of the right to deduct input VAT solely because that transaction is regarded as fictitious and is invalid under the provisions of national civil law, without it being necessary to establish that that transaction is the result of VAT evasion.
Proceedings concerning the right to deduct the value added tax referred to on an invoice.