The current ECJ judgment in the legal case baumgarten sports & more GmbH is a welcome relief for taxable persons as regards transactions involving payment by instalments (ECJ, judgment of 29.11.2018 – C-548/17). Even if taxable persons are subject to taxation based on agreed consideration, they will, in the future, be able to avoid having to pay VAT en bloc to the tax office at the time the (first) supply is rendered. Therefore, under certain conditions, the supplying taxable person will no longer have to pre-finance VAT in the case of such transactions.

The "German Annual Tax Act 2018" was passed by the Bundesrat on 23.11.2018. The following changes apply to VAT: Recording obligations and liability for electronic marketplaces are introduced. The law regulates, for the very first time, the taxation of vouchers. The definition of taxable amount is adapted to the VAT Directive. Finally, the Act contains three simplifications for electronic services, as well as for telecommunications and broadcasting services.

In its current judgment Vădan (judgment of 21.11.2018 – C-664/16) the ECJ states, for the first time, that the submission of invoices is not a mandatory requirement for the deduction of input VAT. The strict application of the requirement to produce invoices would conflict with the principles of neutrality and proportionality. Hence, taxable persons can also claim input VAT deduction if they are able to prove the necessary (substantive) requirements by means of objective evidence. Taxable persons that were denied the right to deduct input VAT by the tax authorities, due to a lack of invoices, should now (re-)examine whether they can provide objective evidence by other means.