If taxable persons mistakenly apply the reverse charge scheme, the supplier is required to pay the VAT to the tax office, including any late assessment interest. The customer could previously only claim input VAT upon receipt of a proper invoice. Therefore, there was no interest on refunds. Although the German fiscal authorities affirmed a retroactive invoice supplement for cases of domestic reverse charge, they denied a retroactive effect for alleged intra-Community supplies of services (article 196 of the VAT Directive). A first instance Fiscal Court contradicts this restriction in two recent judgements.