The German Ministry of Finance implements Federal Fiscal Court case law with respect to the waiver of VAT exemptions, as well as the withdrawal thereof. Accordingly, in the future, the waiver and its withdrawal are still permissible up to the substantive enforceability. However, this does not apply to the supply of immovable property outside of a foreclosure procedure. In the future, a taxable person can only opt for VAT liability when a notarial sales contract is concluded.

GREECE extends local Reverse Charge mechanism +++ INDIA implemented new VAT system +++ ITALY shortens period for claiming input VAT and extends split-payment-system +++ POLAND intends to implement split-payment-system and extends SAF-T reporting obligations +++ ROMANIA introduces data-base for high risk businesses +++ RUSSIA intends to increase standard VAT rate by 4 percentage points +++ SWITZERLAND considers global turnover to be decisive for the liability to pay VAT +++ HUNGARY implement obligation to electronically transfer invoice details after a preliminary test phase and publishes “Blacklist”.

Once again, the ECJ has had to decide on how to ascribe the transport of goods in a chain transaction. The ECJ maintains the principles of its case law in its judgment of 26 July 2017 (case Toridas, C-386/16). However, it also sees a decisive criterion in the notification of the resale of the goods, before they leave the country, in order for the transport not to be allocated to the first supply. This will need to be considered in the future.