Time and again, the tax authorities have denied input VAT deductions to taxable persons because they should have known, had they exercised due diligence, that they were participating in tax evasion with their supplies. In this context, the ECJ has now ruled that taxable persons are not required to carry out complex and comprehensive checks on their business partners, such as those that can normally only be performed by the tax administration (judgment of 01.12.2022 – C-512/21 – Aquila Part Prod Com). At the same time, however, the ECJ held that taxable persons must accept responsibility for the knowledge of an appointed third party of a tax evasion in the chain of transactions.