Keywords
abuse of law
administrative judicature
tax authorities
Court of Justice of the European Union
Abstract
This article presents a problem of the abuse of law clause with respect to VAT that gives rise to numerous disputes between tax authorities and taxpayers. It aims at comprehensively discussing this problem, in the context of the source literature as well as national and EU legislation and case law. The issue presented in this article is important for the operations of enterprises. A principal conclusion is that in each case, tax authorities and administrative courts must examine the transaction and all its aspects in their entirety in terms of their actual nature and objective. This boils down to investigating whether the only objective of a given transaction is to obtain an undue tax advantage, or whether such an advantage is merely gained by an entity “along the way”.
References
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LEGAL ACTS
Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ L-347, 11.12.2006, P 1-118).
Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes – Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment (OJ L 145, 13.6.1977, p. 1–40).
The CJEU judgment of 15 December 2005, case C-63/04, Centralan Property Ltd v. Commissioners of Customs & Excise, CURIA [Access: 12.06.2023].
The CJEU judgment of 21 February 2006, case C-255/02, Halifax plc, Leeds Permanent Development Services LTS i CountyWide Property Investments Ltd v. Commissioners of Customs&Excise, CURIA [Aaccess: 12.06.2023].
The CJEU judgment of February 21, 2016, in case C-223/03, University of Huddersfield Higher Education Corporation v. Commissioners of Customs & Excise, CURIA, [Access: 12.06.2023).
The CJEU judgment of September 3, 2014, in case C-589/12, Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Custom v. GMAC UK plc, CURIA [Access: 12.06.2023].
The CJEU judgment of May 15, 2014, in case C-337/13, Almos Agrárkülkereskedelmi Kft v. Nemzeti Adó- és Vámhivatal Közép-magyarországi Regionális Adó Főigazgatósága, CURIA [[Access: 12.06.2023].
The CJEU judgment of November 22, 2017, in Case C-251/15, Edward Cussens, John Jennings, Vincent Kingston v. T.G. Brosnan, CURIA [Access: 12.06.2023].
The judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of July 6, 2011, reference number I FSK 950/10, CBOSA [Access: 10.06.2023].
The judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of September 5, 2015, reference number I FSK 2/15, CBOSA [Access: 10.06.2023].
The judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of July 11, 2017, reference number I FSK 2254/15, CBOSA [Access: 10.06.2023].
The judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of June 28, 2017 reference number I FSK 1669/15, CBOSA [Access: 11.06.2023].
The judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court of January 17, 2019, reference number I SA/Sz 792/18, CBOSA [Access: 11.06.2023].
Ustawa z dnia 11 marca 2014 r. o podatku od towarów i usług (tekst jedn. Dz.U. z 2022 r., poz. 931 ze zm.) (Act of March 11, 2014 on tax on goods and services (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2022, item 931, as amended)
Ustawa z dnia 23 kwietnia 1964 r. – Kodeks cywilny (tekst jedn. Dz.U. z 2022 r., poz. 1360 ze zm.) (Act of April 23, 1964 Civil Code (consolidated text: Journal of Laws of 2022, item 1360, as amended)
Ustawa z dnia 13 maja 2016 r. o zmianie ustawy Ordynacja podatkowa oraz niektórych innych ustaw (Dz.U. z 2016 r., poz. 846) (Act of May 13, 2016 amending the Tax Ordinance Act and certain other acts (Journal of Laws of 2016, item 846).