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The Federal Ministry of Finance limits the scope of application for supplies in maritime transport and aviation (letter of 05.09.2018). The transactions will be zero-rated, if the watercraft or aircraft can already be clearly and unambiguously identified at the time of the supply. Zero-rating can also be applied to supplies carried out at the earlier stage of the commercial chain where the supplier is able to prove the final purpose of the supply destined for a tax-advantaged watercraft or aircraft, by means of accounting and other documentary evidence. The tax benefits only apply to existing watercraft or aircraft.
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VAT claims are often accompanied by both an assessment of interest, pursuant to sec 233a German General Fiscal Code, as well as late payment penalties, pursuant to sec 240 German General Fiscal Code. With regard to the interest rate, constitutional doubts are currently being raised (see KMLZ Newsletter 25/2018). The Fiscal Court Munich has now also expressed these same doubts regarding late payment penalties in circumstances where the taxpayer is over-indebted and insolvent for periods dating from 2015 (decision of 13.08.2018 – 14 V 736/18). In such cases, the late payment penalties are to be entirely waived. Accordingly, a managing director cannot be held liable.
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In an invoice issued for the purpose of input VAT deduction, the supplier’s address is not required to be the place of his or her economic activity. This was decided by the German Federal Fiscal Court in two judgments of 21 June 2018 (V R 25/15 and V R 28/16). The German Federal Fiscal Court thus follows the ECJ in the German rulings in Geissel and Butin – C-374/16 and C-375/16. It is sufficient if the supplier can be reached at the given address. It is also sufficient, for example, to provide the address of a law firm which is also the domicile of other companies. Moreover, the fact that there is a domicile address of the supplier does not justify accusations of bad faith on the part of the recipient. Despite VAT fraud in the supply chain, the German Federal Fiscal Court granted input VAT deduction in the proceedings V R 28/16. The tax office is required to prove knowledge of tax evasion or knowledge of facts which should have alerted the recipient to the existence thereof, which was not the case here.
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