Important judgment of the CJEU on VAT interest on intra-Community acquisition of goods

The Court of Justice of the European Union issued a judgment in a case filed by the Voivodship Administrative Court in Gliwice (decision of 4 November 2019, ref. No. I SA/Gl 495/19), concerning  compliance of national regulations with the VAT Directive in the scope of recognition of input and output tax on intra-Community acquisition of goods in two different settlement periods. Polish regulations introduced in 2017 raised doubts regarding observance of the principle of VAT neutrality. In the opinion of the CJEU, introduction by the Polish legislator of an additional requirement, which leads to disclosing of output and input VAT in two different settlement periods, is contrary to the essence of regulations applicable to the common system of value added tax.

The judgment concerns intra-Community acquisition of goods transactions, however it is worth noting that it can be used to support refund of overpaid interest in connection with other transactions based on the reverse charge mechanism. If an application for overpayment is submitted within 30 days from the publication of the CJEU judgment, the refund may be increased by an appropriate interest rate.

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