Case law
SAC sets limits to fighting VAT fraud
Where a supply has been affected by VAT fraud, the tax administration demands almost investigative checks of suppliers to maintain the entitlement for VAT deduction; and this may happen at any point in the chain. The Supreme Administrative Court …
New rules of liability for unpaid VAT according to SAC
The Supreme Administrative Court has specified the conditions of a supply recipient’s liability for VAT unpaid by the supplier: a payment to a foreign account cannot automatically give rise to liability.
Exemption from withholding tax on interest and royalties may be applied…
The Supreme Administrative Court held that the exemption of interest or royalties from withholding tax may be applied retrospectively for up to two years from filing the application for exemption with the tax authority.
Cameras or privacy?
The monitoring of premises by CCTV cameras is common enough nowadays. Usually, the reason for installing them is the protection of property against theft or vandalism. Yet, as the European Court of Human Rights emphasised in its recent judgment, we…
Self-employed entitled to paid annual leave?
The Court of Justice of the EU provided a positive answer to a question raised by British courts whether self-employed persons are entitled to paid annual leave similarly as employees where their relationship in fact fulfils the criteria of…
Interest on interest according to SAC? Yes, sometimes
The Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) has recently dealt twice with the possibility of awarding a taxpayer interest on the interest that the tax administrator refused to award and pay for a long time. It is for sure good to know that this…
Schrems versus Facebook, take two
Maximilian Schrems, an Austrian citizen, has become known in connection with the CJEU’s ruling annulling the Commission’s decision that declared the USA a safe country to transfer personal data from the EU (‘Safe Harbour’). Now the Court of Justice…
Better times ahead for cross-border trading taxpayers?
The Supreme Administrative Court has recently stood up for a taxpayer who effected a supply of goods to another member state, i.e. a transaction exempt from VAT with entitlement to deduction. The crucial point of the dispute was the taxpayer’s good…
Discriminatory severance pay
According to the Supreme Court, a collective bargaining agreement’s provision making the payment of severance pay above the statutory amount conditional upon an employee not yet being entitled to old-age pension is contrary to law.
Delivery of goods or provision of services?
Late last year, the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) ruled in case 3 Afs 96/2016, dealing with whether a transaction should be viewed as a delivery of goods or a provision of a service; this had an effect on the correct VAT treatment.
SAC: tax inspections can be initiated by any tax authority
The 2016 amendment to the Act on the Financial Administration gave tax authorities country-wide jurisdiction in two areas: the fact-finding activity in tax administration, and the scrutiny procedures by the tax authorities, including tax inspections.
An end to statutory representative and proxy-holder acting jointly
A proxy-holder acting jointly with a statutory representative: is this what is recorded in your company’s entry in the Commercial Register? If so, you have a problem, as indicated by a recent Supreme Court decision, responding to the inconsistent…