Fiscal authorities often refuse the tax exemption for intra-community supplies of goods arguing that the taxable persons would have been acting in bad faith due to their involvement in perpetrating a tax fraud. In the present proceedings before the Federal Fiscal Court, the fiscal authorities presented, in their view, extensive incriminating evidence, including evidence of the particular company being run as a dummy company, demonstrating a neglected duty of care.

The last recipient in a supply chain is not obliged to correct his input VAT deduction when he receives rebates from the first supplier in the chain from abroad. The German Federal Fiscal Court confirmed this with its judgment of 4 December 2014 (V R 6/13). In such cases, the taxable base for a turnover subject to VAT has not changed. Furthermore, the tax court stated that, in these sorts of cases, the distributor is not obliged to correct his intra-Community acquisitions. As a consequence, it is more profitable to receive rebates from abroad than from a German supplier.

It has been discussed for quite some time now if and how non-taxable grants may affect the deductible proportion of input VAT. Proceedings before the Federal Fiscal Court have already shown that taxable persons need to participate at an early stage. If they do not, the amount of input VAT may be estimated and grants may be considered negatively. However, taxable persons are in the position to avoid such unpleasant surprises.