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28.09.2023

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

Tax & Financial Standards New Judgments of the ECJ For September 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

September

С-169/22 of 7 September 2023

Common agricultural policy – European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development – Rural development support measures – Animal welfare payments – Transfer of an agricultural holding to a new beneficiary – Subsequent cessation, by that beneficiary, of agricultural activities – ‘Force majeure or exceptional circumstances’ – Obligation to reimburse all or part of the aid received – Principle of proportionality
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Support for rural development. The loss of the right to use leased assets on account of the termination of the lease on those assets as a result of the lessor does not constitute a case of ‘force majeure or exceptional circumstances’, within the meaning of that provision. In the light of the principle of proportionality, must be interpreted as meaning that, where, during the period for which a commitment given as a condition for the grant of assistance runs, the holding of a beneficiary is transferred to another person who voluntarily takes over that commitment and who, subsequently, definitively ceases agricultural activities, that last beneficiary of the aid must reimburse the aid received in relation to the whole of that commitment, including the amounts received by the previous beneficiaries.
Proceedings concerning the decisions requiring Gr, on account of the cessation of its agricultural activities, to reimburse all the aid granted for animal welfare over that company’s five-year commitment period.

С-323/22 of 7 September 2023

Free movement of goods — Excise duties — Irregular departure from a suspension arrangement — Unlawful act solely attributable to a third party — Falsification of the accompanying administrative document — Exemption for losses occurring under the suspension arrangement – Fortuitous events or force majeure — Liability of the authorised warehousekeeper — Concept of „loss“
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
General arrangements for products subject to excise duty and on the holding, movement and monitoring of such products. Chargeability of excise duty. Exemption from tax, which does not apply to the warehousekeeper, which is liable for the payment of duty, in the case of a departure from the suspension arrangement owing to an unlawful act solely attributable to a third party, even where the warehousekeeper was wholly uninvolved in that unlawful act.
Concept of „loss“.
Proceedings concerning the recovery of excise duties owed by a company as a result of the alleged breach by the latter of the suspension arrangement under which mineral oils moved.

С-453/22 of 7 September 2023

Common system of value added tax (VAT) — Principle of VAT neutrality — Principle of effectiveness — VAT rate set too high on a purchase invoice — Reimbursement of the overpaid tax — Direct action against the tax authorities — Effect of the risk of a double reimbursement of the same VAT
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
The principle of VAT neutrality and the principle of effectiveness require that a receiver of supplies of goods has a direct right to claim from the tax authorities the reimbursement of improperly invoiced VAT paid to his or her suppliers and paid by those suppliers to the public purse, together with related interest. Failing reimbursement of the VAT improperly charged by the tax authorities within a reasonable time, the damage must be compensated by the payment of default interest.
Proceedings relating to the equitable right to obtain discharge from additional VAT assessments by the German tax authorities and interest on that tax.

С-461/21 of 7 September 2023

Common system of value added tax – Exemptions – Road carriage transactions directly connected with the import of goods – Rules of evidence – Freedom to provide services – Recovery of VAT by a non-resident – Taxation of consideration paid by way of a tax on the income of non-resident persons – Tax withheld at source by a resident – Concept of ‘services’
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Recovery of VAT carried out in several Member States by a non-resident provider. Withholding tax on remuneration paid by a resident service recipient on remuneration payable to a non-resident service provider. In order to benefit from the VAT exemption provided for carriage services connected with the importation of goods, where the carriage of merchandise is carried out by a taxable person between the Member State in whose territory the place where those goods are introduced into the European Union is situated and a place of destination in another Member State, recording the import transaction does not mean, on that very same basis and systematically, that the costs of that carriage are included in the taxable amount for VAT purposes of the imported merchandise.
Concept of ‘services’.
Proceedings concerning an obligation incumbent on Ca to pay, first, an additional amount of value added tax in respect of services relating to the carriage of goods intended to be imported into Romania and, second, tax withheld at source on income paid by Ca to a non-resident co-contracting company for services for the recovery of VAT abroad.

С-27/22 of 14 September 2023

Principle ne bis in idem – Penalty imposed concerning unfair commercial practices – Criminal nature of the penalty – Criminal penalty imposed in a Member State after the adoption of a penalty concerning unfair commercial practices in another Member State but which became final before the latter penalty – Limitations to the principle ne bis in idem – Conditions – Coordination of proceedings and penalties
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Application of the principle ne bis in idem to the duplication of cross-border proceedings in which a penalty is imposed. The principle ne bis in idem must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which allows a fine of a criminal nature imposed on a legal person for unfair commercial practices to be maintained where that person has been the subject of a criminal conviction in respect of the same facts in another Member State. The limitation of the application of the principle ne bis in idem - (i) that such duplication does not represent an excessive burden for the person concerned, (ii) that there are clear and precise rules making it possible to predict which acts or omissions are liable to be subject to a duplication, and (iii) that the sets of proceedings in question have been conducted in a manner that is sufficiently coordinated and within a proximate timeframe.
Proceedings concerning the decision of the Competition and Markets Authority to impose a fine on companies for unfair commercial practices.

С-393/22 of 14 September 2023

Judicial cooperation in civil matters — Jurisdiction and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters — Termination of a contract to enter into a future contract relating to the future conclusion of a franchise agreement — Concept of „contract for the provision of services“
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Special jurisdiction in matters relating to a contract. A contract to enter into a future contract relating to the future conclusion of a franchise agreement which provides for an obligation to pay a contractual penalty based on non-performance of that contract to enter into a future contract, the breach of which serves as a basis for a claim. Concept of “a contract for the provision of services”.
Proceedings, concerning a claim for payment of a contractual penalty based on the non-execution of a contract to enter into a future contract relating to the future conclusion of a franchise agreement.

С-632/21 of 14 September 2023

Judicial cooperation in civil matters – Law applicable to contractual obligations – Timeshare contracts – Legal proceedings seeking a declaration that those contracts are void – United Kingdom nationals – Choice of applicable law – Freedom of choice – Applicable law in the absence of a choice made by the parties – Consumer contracts
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Law applicable to contractual obligations. Article 6(2) of the Rome I Regulation must be interpreted as meaning that, where a consumer contract fulfils the requirements laid down in Article 6(1) of that regulation, the parties to that contract may, in accordance with Article 3 of that same regulation, choose the law applicable to that contract, provided, however, that that choice does not result in depriving the consumer concerned of the protection afforded to him or her by provisions that cannot be derogated from.
Proceedings concerning an application for a declaration that timeshare contracts.

С-820/21 of 14 September 2023

Excise duty — Tax warehouse arrangements — Conditions for the grant of an authorisation for the opening and operation of a tax warehouse by an authorised warehousekeeper — Failure to satisfy those conditions — Final withdrawal of the authorisation, together with the imposition of a financial penalty — Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union — Principles of proportionality and ‘ne bis in idem’
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
National legislation which provides for the withdrawal of an authorisation to operate a tax warehouse in the event of a failure to comply with the excise duty arrangements that is considered to be serious by the national legislation, together with a financial penalty already imposed in respect of the same facts. Rules making it possible to predict which acts and omissions are liable to be subject to a duplication of proceedings and penalties, and also to predict that there will be coordination between the different authorities. two sets of proceedings, which have been conducted in a manner that is sufficiently coordinated and within a proximate time frame. Possibility any penalty that may have been imposed in the proceedings that were first in time to be taken into account in the assessment of the second penalty. Principles of proportionality and ‘ne bis in idem’.
Proceedings between an authorised warehousekeeper, and the Director of the Customs Agency, concerning a decision by which that director withdrew the authorisation to operate a tax warehouse within the meaning of Directive 2008/118, on account of a serious failure to comply with the excise duty arrangements, which also gave rise to a financial penalty.

С-770/21 of 21 September 2023

Union Customs Code – Determination of the customs value – Customs value of fruit and vegetables to which an entry price applies – Declared transaction value higher than the standard import value – Disposal of products under conditions confirming the correctness of the transaction value – Sale by the importer at a loss – Relationship between the importer and the exporter – Judicial review of the decision determining the customs debt
Key aspects of the decision in the economic range:
Non-production of any commercial contract relating to the importation. An importer who has not chosen, within the time limits laid down by those provisions, to determine the customs value of the lot imported in accordance with the deductive method, but has, on the contrary, determined that value in accordance with Article 70 of the Union Customs Code, from being able validly to rely, in support of its action against a decision of the customs authorities determining the customs debt, on a calculation of the customs value carried out in accordance with the deductive method. The disposal of the lot of imported goods by means of a sale at a loss constitutes a serious indication of the artificially high declared transaction value, which does not require the importer to provide the customs authorities, in order to demonstrate that that value is correct.
Proceedings concerning the transaction value declared in respect of an importation.