Weaknesses in the content of invoices and breach of the obligation to have them and the right to deduct input tax from output tax in the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union

Abstract

The subject of the article is an analysis of the case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding VAT invoices. The author tries to determine whether the Court considers these invoices formalistically and whether it concludes that only correct invoices give the right to deduct input tax on output tax. The analysis of the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union lead to the conclusion that it rejected the formalistic approach to possession of correctly issued invoices as a formal condition for exercising the right to deduct input tax on output tax. In practice, this means that the tax authorities of the Member States do not have the right to refuse the taxpayer the right to make this deduction if all the material requirements on which the entitlement is based have been met, even if some formal requirements, including those concerning invoices, have not been met. The rationale for this approach is that, according to the Court of Justice, possession of a valid invoice by a taxpayer does not constitute a formal requirement for a deduction. According to the Court, the invoice serves only as evidence, on the basis of which the taxpayer can prove his entitlement. The inability to take evidence under this measure does not, however, deprive the right to demonstrate the right to deductionby other means of proof.