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Nothing is impossible – deducting the VAT on shareholdings

Tamás Fehér | 12 December 2018
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Tamás Fehér

The deductibility of the VAT content of incoming invoices has long been a source of consternation both for equity investors and for the holding companies heading up corporate groups. In a relaxation of the general ban on VAT deduction in these cases, the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”) has given ‘active’ holding companies a way around the restrictions. Meanwhile, other recent judgments by the Court have further expanded the opportunities for VAT deduction. Nevertheless, the ECJ’s decisions also show that it’s better to err on the side of caution.

When is an export not an export? New VAT rules on intra-Community supplies of goods

Tamás Fehér | 18 October 2018
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Tamás Fehér

The rules on VAT-exempt intra-Community supplies of goods have long been a source of worry for businesses. It is not uncommon for the tax authority to deny tax exemption on such transactions on the grounds that the goods never left the country. Although a recently accepted proposal by the EU clarifies the rules, complying with them entails a great deal of bureaucracy for companies that deliver to EU markets.

Tags:
EU, tax audit , VAT

Bringing VAT “back from the dead”

Tamás Fehér | 24 July 2018
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Tamás Fehér

Companies are faced with countless situations where, for reasons beyond their control, they are unable to collect the money owed to them, including its VAT part. In such cases the tax authority often refuses to allow the reclaim of the lost VAT even where this would not incur a loss for the budget. Based on recent judgements by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), however, the VAT should be recoverable in many cases of this kind.

Tax planning with an open book

Tamás Fehér | 29 June 2018
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Tamás Fehér

Based on a recently announced EU directive, your name and any tax advice you have received could end up with the tax authority. From July 2020, tax advisors, or in certain cases the taxpayers themselves, will be required to inform the tax authority of the details of certain tax planning structures that are classified as aggressive under the new directive. And what’s more, the disclosure obligation will apply retrospectively to all structures that taxpayers started implementing after 25 June 2018.

Are we mischarging the VAT on leasing?

Tamás Fehér | 11 May 2018
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Tamás Fehér

Following the recent reinterpretation by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) of the definition of closed-end finance leasing, a new Advocate General (AG) opinion has exploded another “VAT bomb” in relation to current practice. For many years, leasing companies have divided the fees payable under finance lease contracts into a VATable and a non-VATable part, but the latest AG opinion states that the whole lease fee should be liable for VAT in its integrity. This could have serious implications for the Hungarian leasing market too, so it is worth keeping an eye on how the case progresses.

Tags:
EU, lease, VAT

Sometimes less is more

Tamás Fehér | 28 March 2018
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Tamás Fehér

Our traditional survey again looks at how many types of taxes there are in Hungary. The number of Hungarian taxes has fallen by one again this year, so we’ve counted 58 this time. The decrease, however, is of a technical nature only, while at the same time we continue to live with taxes such as the seemingly ineradicable charge payable on household employees or the newly introduced poster tax.

VAT on public-purpose investments: property developers can breathe a sigh of relief

Tamás Fehér | 2 October 2017
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Tamás Fehér

In 2009 the Supreme Court made it clear that the VAT on public-purpose investments related to property developments is deductible if it would not be possible to implement the development without such investment. Recently, however, some alarm was unexpectedly caused by the preliminary opinion of the advocate general of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in a similar, Bulgarian case, which recommended prohibiting the tax deduction right. Although the ECJ’s judgement published in the middle of last week did not follow the advocate general’s opinion, it did make exercising the deduction right subject to some strict conditions.

Exactly what it seems

Tamás Fehér | 19 April 2017
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Tamás Fehér

One of the most frequent areas of dispute between the tax authority and taxpayers relates to the conditions under which a taxable entity participating in a chain transaction can deduct the VAT passed on to it. The tax authority (NAV) was recently struck another blow in the tussle when the Supreme Court, in a precedent-setting ruling, took issue with the tax authority’s practice of regularly reclassifying the participants in chain transactions as agents. What’s more, the Curia’s ruling goes significantly further, and questions in general the tax authority’s right to reclassify the transactions of taxable entities on a whim.

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Who is this blog addressed to?

The law is constantly in flux. While many people may find this intimidating, for us it’s precisely what makes it so exciting. We’d like to share this attitude with businesspeople and managers, and with those who just have an interest in business law, in the form of a regularly updated blog that discusses the latest tax law and commercial law issues in an accessible style. Feel free to send your questions and suggestions for topics you’d like us to cover to blog@jalsovszky.com.

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