CJEU – Recent Developments in Value Added Tax 2018

S. 3Art 17 ECFR on the right to property and VAT

Edoardo Traversa/Stefania Lotito Fedele

1. S. 4Introduction: Human rights and taxation in the European Union and ECHR legal order

Although the EU harmonization process in the area of Value-added tax started several decades ago, issues relating to its compatibility with fundamental rights have only arisen relatively recently. As the case law of the European Court of Human Rights shows, human rights may have an impact on the application of VAT domestic rules in many areas, such as administrative penalties and sanctions, criminal proceedings, procurement of evidence, procedural guarantees, VAT fraud and abuse, VAT exemptions, VAT deductions or VAT increases. Despite the fact that the terms “tax”, “taxation” or any other concept related to it do not appear in any provision of the European Convention on Human Rights, except in Art. 1 of Protocol No.1, many ECHR judgments have been rendered on various issues relating to the application of tax laws: the principle of legality of taxation and legitimate purpose, the principle of clarity of standards, the principle of unreasonable non-retroactivity of substantive tax rules, the principle of proportionali...