On 05.12.2017 the EU Finance Ministers adopted one Directive and two Regulations. These statutes will make it easier for e-commerce businesses to comply with VAT law. The MOSS procedure will, inter alia, be expanded to include distance sales. Platforms for distance sellers will be held liable for sales carried out by external merchants. A threshold for the supply of B2C services will be implemented and a lot more is introduced…

Following the German Federal Fiscal Court’s decision, liability according to sec 25d para 1 German VAT Act is subject to significant obstacles. The recipient can be held liable for VAT for supplies on a previous stage in the supply chain only in exceptional circumstances. It is not enough that the acquirer is aware that the supplier is under criminal investigation. Evidence proving that the acquirer knew of the supplier’s intention not to pay VAT for the specific revenues when contracting is a precondition for the VAT liability of the acquirer.

In its decision of 15.11.2017 in the legal cases Geissel and Butin – C-374/16 and C-375/16, the ECJ held that the address, where the issuer of an invoice carries out its economic activity, does not have to be specified in the invoice for the purpose of input VAT deduction. In the ECJ’s view, it is sufficient that the postal address used in the invoices is an address at which the supplier is contactable. This is a clear rejection by the ECJ of the rather narrow German point of view. The decision is also important as regards the recipient’s address.