Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 27 September 2012 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Bundesfinanzhof (Germany)) — Vogtländische Straßen-, Tief- und Rohrleitungsbau GmbH Rodewisch (VSTR) v Finanzamt Plauen

(Case C-587/10) (1)

(Taxation - Value-added tax - Supply of goods - Taxation of chain transactions - Refusal to exempt on grounds of failure to produce the VAT identification number of the person acquiring goods)

2012/C 366/14

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Bundesfinanzhof

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Vogtländische Straßen-, Tief- und Rohrleitungsbau GmbH Rodewisch (VSTR)

Defendant: Finanzamt Plauen

Intervener in support of the defendant(s): Bundesministerium der Finanzen

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Bundesfinanzhof — Interpretation of the Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ 1977 L 145, p. 1) — Supply of goods — Taxation of chain transactions — Purchase of goods by a company established in a Member State from another company, established in a third State and which is not registered for VAT purposes, which obtains its supplies from a company established in another Member State, the goods being dispatched directly by the supplier to the acquiring company — Situation where the supplier submits the acquirer’s VAT identification number

Operative part of the judgment

The first subparagraph of Article 28c(A)(a) of Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment, as amended by Council Directive 98/80/EC of 12 October 1998, should be interpreted as not precluding the tax authority of a Member State from making the exemption from VAT of an intra-Community supply subject to the provision by the supplier of the VAT identification number of the person acquiring the goods, with the proviso that the grant of that exemption should not be refused on the sole ground that that requirement was not fulfilled where the supplier, acting in good faith and having taken all the measures which can reasonably be required of him, is unable to provide that identification number but provides other information which is such as to demonstrate sufficiently that the person acquiring the goods is a taxable person acting as such in the transaction at issue.

(1)  OJ C 80, 12.3.2011.