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Umsatzsteuer Newsletter 23/2015
The German Federal Fiscal Court tightens the requirements for invoices
In a decision which had been given little attention up to now, the Federal Fiscal Court tightened the requirements for the deduction of input VAT from invoices. The Court held that taxable persons cannot deduct input VAT from invoices only showing the supplier’s P.O. box address. In this context, the Federal Fiscal Court indicated that this reasoning is also applicable in cases where the P.O. box address of the recipient of the supply is stated on the invoice. The judgement may have far-reaching effects, in particular for German companies.
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Umsatzsteuer Newsletter 22/2015
VAT consequences of Wage Tax changes for company events and small gifts
A few months ago, the Wage Tax regulations for company events and small gifts were changed. This change impacts on VAT. The Federal Ministry of Finance has now given its opinion on this issue. It is no surprise that the Wage Tax regulations may not be fully applied with respect to VAT. In principle, the regulations for Wage Tax are applicable for the VAT treatment for simplification purposes. However, there are also substantial differences between these two types of taxes. In particular, there is no identical treatment if the costs for a company event exceed the value of 110 € per participant.
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Umsatzsteuer Newsletter 21/2015
Consignment stocks – treatment depends on content of contracts
In a decision of 18 June 2015, the tax court Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) expressed its disagreement with the tax authorities‘ opinion regarding consignment stocks (case no. 5 K 335/14). The case concerned supplies from the EU to a call-off stock in Germany. The tax court decided that the respective contractual agreements of the parties are essential for the VAT treatment. It is yet to be determined whether an unconditional purchase agreement had already been put in place prior to the goods being shipped to the warehouse. It is now evident that companies may not rely on the rules for consignment stocks as contained in the German VAT Circular. Both, suppliers and customers need to carefully check what is agreed in terms of their consignment stock contracts.
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