CJEU – Recent Developments in Value Added Tax 2019

S. 2101. Background

We are seeing a significant number of referrals to the CJEU concerning reductions of the taxable amount in the case of non-payment. As addressed in the second section of the chapter by Ad van Doesum, 2019 saw three judgments and one order on questions relating to the scope of Art. 90(1) of the VAT Directive and the possibility to derogate under Art. 90(2). At the time of writing, I am aware of four further cases pending at the CJEU on this question: C-684/18, C-146/19, C-335/19, and C-756/19. Including the Di Maura C-246/16 case that started this chain reaction, this makes nine CJEU referrals relating to non-payment under Art. 90.

This issue is especially relevant within the telecommunications sector in which I work. It is common for telecommunication providers to incur low value debts from consumer customers. These typically result from two to three months of unpaid bills from customers on fixed period contracts, leaving a total debt per customer averaging around € 100. Whilst the individual amounts of the debt are low, the volume of the debts are high. As a whole the total amounts involved are material to the impacted businesses.

Interestingly, all nine of the above-me...