Exportation where the person acquiring the goods exported is not identified (EUCJ, C-653/18, Unitel sp. z o.o., 17/10/2019)
There is a VAT exempt export of goods when (1) the right to dispose of the goods as owner has been transferred to the person acquiring the goods and (2) the supplier demonstrates that those goods have been dispatched out of the EU.According to the European Court of Justice, “the fact that exported goods are acquired outside the European Union by an entity which is not the one mentioned on the invoice and which is not identified does not preclude those objective criteria from being met”. The contrary would endanger the suppliers involved in supply chains as these businesses do not necessarily know the identity of the final customer in the country of destination. As a consequence, the VAT exemption cannot be made conditional upon the fact that the person acquiring the goods is identified. VAT exemption could however be rejected if the failure to identify the person actually acquiring the goods prevents from demonstrating that the transaction constitutes an exempted exportation as defined above or if it is established that the supplier knew or ought to have known that that transaction was part of a fraud (detrimental to the common system of VAT)
Electronic invoices
As from January 01, 2020, the transmission of invoices in dematerialized form on the Chorus Pro portal becomes mandatory for very small companies (less than 10 employees) supplying to the public sector (State, local authorities, hospitals, public institutions, etc.). This provision has been in force since last January for small and medium-sized companies (10 to 250 employees), since 2018 for mid-cap companies (250 to 5,000 employees) and since 2017 for companies with more than 5,000 employees. On the other hand, France plans to make electronic invoicing mandatory for all B2B transactions between 2023 and 2025 depending on the sectors and the size of the businesses.
New deadline for VAT payments
The deadline for the payment of the Portuguese VAT has been amended: the taxpayers now have an additional 5 days in order to transfer the money to the bank account of the Portuguese Authorities. The deadlines for filing the Portuguese VAT returns remain however unchanged.
Reverse charge for supplies of building and construction services
The introduction of the reverse charge for building and construction services has been delayed for a period of 12 months until October 01, 2020.