CJEU - Recent Developments in Value Added Tax 2023

1. Introduction

This chapter addresses two of the most widely discussed topics by the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) concerning VAT, i.e., the taxable amount and tax rates. The court delivered only one pure judgement in 2023 on VAT rates: case C-146/22, Dyrektor Krajowej Informacji Skarbowej. Here, it deliberated on whether the tax rate for ready-to-drink beverages could differ from the VAT rate applicable to those prepared at the customer’s request and served hot for immediate consumption. Nevertheless, there are two judgements in which the court assessed cases in which the taxable person erroneously charged the standard VAT rate when a reduced rate was applicable. In case C-378/21, P GmBH and Finanzamt Österreich, the services for which the wrong tax rate was applied were supplied to final customers. In case C-453/22, Schütte, however, the purchaser was a taxable person who could not receive a corrected invoice due to the statute of limitations applicable to the transactions. Despite the differences between both cases, their underlying rationale is similar: the absence of risk of loss of public revenue, the lack of unjust enrichment, and no abusive or fraudulent taxpayer behavi...