Resumen de Consistency of ECJ Case Law: Formal Requirements in VAT Matters
The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ or the Court) has, on many occasions, considered the question of the formal requirements under VAT law. Its approach has remained consistent and can be summarized as follows: the taxpayer’s degree of liability should not be higher solely on the grounds that the taxpayer did not fulfil a formal requirement. Member States should not condition their taxpayers’ VAT burden on the satisfaction of a formal requirement if all the related substantive conditions have been met. This approach has been persistently upheld by the three most recent judgments relating to this matter, namely the Siemens Gamesa,(RO: ECJ, 12 Sept. 2018, Case C-69/17, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy România SRL, formerly Gamesa Wind România SRL v. Agenţia Naţională de Administrare Fiscală – Direcţia Generală de Soluţionare a Contestaţiilor, Agenţia Naţională de Administrare Fiscală – Direcţia Generală de Administrare a Marilor Contribuabili, ECLI:EU:C:2018:703.) TGE Gas Engineering (PT: ECJ, 7 Aug. 2018, Case C-16/17, TGE Gas Engineering GmbH – Sucursal em Portugal v. Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, ECLI:EU:C:2018:647.) and Enteco Baltic (LT: ECJ, 20 June 2018, Case C-108/17, UAB ‘Enteco Baltic’ v. Muitinės departamentas prie Lietuvos Respublikos finansų ministerijos, ECLI:EU:C:2018:47.) cases. This note will provide an overview of those newest decisions in light of the previous judgments of the Court.
