8.9.2007   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 211/20

Reference for a preliminary ruling from VAT and Duties Tribunal, London (United Kingdom) made on 29 June 2007 — J D Wetherspoon PLC v The Commissioners of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs

(Case C-302/07)

(2007/C 211/38)

Language of the case: English

Referring court

VAT and Duties Tribunal, London

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: J D Wetherspoon PLC

Defendant: The Commissioners of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs

Questions referred

1.

Is the rounding off of VAT amounts governed solely by national law, or instead governed by Community law? In particular do the first and second paragraphs of Article 2 of the First Directive (1) and Articles 11A(l)(a) and/or 12(3)(a) and/or Article 22(3)(b), (version as at 1st January 2004) of the Sixth Directive (2) confirm that rounding off is a matter of Community law?

2.

In particular:

(i)

Does Community law prevent the application of a national rule or practice of the national taxing authority which requires rounding up of any given VAT amount whenever the fraction of the smallest unit of currency is concerned is at or above 0.50 (for example, 0.5 pence is required to be rounded up to the nearest whole pence)?

(ii)

Does Community law require that the taxpayers be allowed to round down any VAT amount which includes a fraction of the smallest unit of currency available?

3.

In a VAT inclusive sale at which level does Community law require rounding off to be applied for the purpose of calculating the VAT due: at the level of each individual item, each line of goods, each supply (if more than one supply is included in the same basket), each transaction/basket total, or each VAT accounting period or some other level?

4.

Is the answer to any of the questions affected by the Community law principles of equal treatment and fiscal neutrality, particularly by reference to the existence, in the United Kingdom, of a concession by the relevant taxing authorities allowing only certain traders to round down the VAT amounts to be accounted for?

(1)  First Council Directive 67/227/EEC of 11 April 1967 on the harmonisation of legislation of Member States concerning turnover taxes (OJ 71, p. 1301), English special edition: Series 1, Chapter 1967, p. 14.

(2)  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 L 145, p. 1).