Fundamentals of EU VAT Law 2nd ed

The Fundamentals of European VAT Law aims at providing a deep insight into the systematics, the functioning and the principles of the European value added tax (EU VAT) system. It reflects the latest state of affairs in EU VAT law since the previous edition. The VAT system rapidly changes and is responsible for generating over EUR 1000 billion per year in tax revenues across the EU – revenues that play a considerable role in budgetary policymaking in the Member States. The two main objectives of the book are to learn how the VAT system works and to understand the background and fundamental principles behind the EU VAT system. This extremely useful book provides not only a thorough description of the current state of EU VAT law but also a detailed explanation of the rationale of the system with a specific focus on various legislative provisions. It puts the elements of the system in perspective and shows how they are linked to each other.

The focus of the book lies on the rules of law which can be deduced from CJEU case law in the context of the provisions to which the cases relate. The systematic presentation covers such issues and topics as the following:

• sources of EU VAT law, including principles derived from CJEU case law;
• principles underlying the EU VAT system;
• relations among the layers of VAT law – primary and secondary EU law, national law;
• how to apply the VAT legislation and case law;
• allocation of taxing rights (place of supply rules), including the VAT e-commerce package;
• invoicing requirements and other administrative obligations;
• exemptions, VAT rates and the taxable amount;
• the right of deduction of input VAT; and
• how far a national court must and can go in interpreting national provisions in light of the VAT Directive and the principles underlying the VAT system.

The book follows the structure of the VAT Directive/VAT determination scheme with additional topical chapters on immovable property, intra-Community transactions, importation and exportation of goods, and shares and other securities.