Case C‑580/16

Firma Hans Bühler KG

v

Finanzamt Graz-Stadt

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Verwaltungsgerichtshof)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Taxation — Value added tax (VAT) — Directive 2006/112/EC — Place of intra-Community acquisition — Article 42 — Intra-Community acquisition of goods that are the object of a subsequent supply — Article 141 — Exemption — Triangular transaction — Simplification measures — Article 265 — Correction of recapitulative statement)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 19 April 2018

1. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation—Common system of value added tax—Exemptions linked to intra-Community transactions—Exemptions related to the supply of goods—Intra-Community acquisition of goods made in the territory of the Member State—Specific measures to ensure that such acquisitions are not subject to VAT—Condition—Dispatch or transport from a Member State other than that of VAT identification and to the person receiving a subsequent delivery—Scope—Taxable person resident and identified for VAT purposes in the Member State of dispatch or transport—Use of a VAT identification number of another Member State for such acquisitions—Included

   [Council Directive 2006/112, as amended by Directive 2010/45, Art. 141(c)]

2. Harmonisation of fiscal legislation—Common system of value added tax—Supply of goods—Place of intra-Community acquisition of goods that are the object of a subsequent supply—Establishing that place in the territory of the Member State that issued a VAT identification number—Late submission of the recapitulative statement—Penalties in the event of non-compliance with formal conditions—Establishing that place as the place where dispatch or transport to the person acquiring them ends—Not permissible

   (Council Directive 2006/112, as amended by Directive 2010/45, Art. 41, paras 1, 42, 263 and 265)

1.  Article 141(c) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax, as amended by Council Directive 2010/45/EU of 13 July 2010, must be interpreted as meaning that the requirement laid down in that provision is met where the taxable person is resident and identified for value added tax (VAT) purposes in the Member State from which the goods are dispatched or transported, but that that taxable person uses the VAT identification number of another Member State for that specific intra-Community acquisition.

   (see para. 43, operative part 1)

2.  Articles 42 and 265 of Directive 2006/112, as amended by Directive 2010/45, read in conjunction with Article 263 of Directive 2006/112, as amended by Directive 2010/45, must be interpreted as precluding the tax authorities of a Member State from applying the first paragraph of Article 41 of Directive 2006/112, solely on the ground that, in the context of an intra-Community acquisition, made for the purposes of a subsequent supply in the territory of a Member State, the recapitulative statement, referred to in Article 265 of Directive 2006/112, as amended by Directive 2010/45, was not submitted in good time by the taxable person identified for value added tax (VAT) purposes in that Member State.

   (see para. 61, operative part 2)