Litdana v Valstybinė mokesčių inspekcija prie Lietuvos Respublikos finansų ministerijos

In Litdana v Valstybinė mokesčių inspekcija prie Lietuvos Respublikos finansų ministerijos (Case C-624/15) (18 May 2017) the CJEU found that a trader had been entitled to apply the margin scheme on the sale of second-hand vehicles in circumstance where its supplier had provided invoices suggesting that it had itself applied the scheme.

Litdana a Lithuanian company that sold second hand vehicles had acquired cars from Handicare Auto A/S a Danish company which it had resold. The invoices issued by Handicare referred to the margin scheme provisions and indicated that the vehicles were exempt from VAT. Litdana applied the VAT margin scheme on the resale. The Lithuanian tax authorities discovered that Handicare had not applied the margin scheme to the relevant vehicles.

The issue was whether a member state could deny a taxpayer the right to apply...