Court of Justice (Third Chamber) 31 January 2013, C‑642/11 (Stroy trans EOOD v Direktor na Direktsia ‘Obzhalvane i upravlenie na izpalnenieto’ — Varna pri Tsentralno upravlenie na Natsionalnata agentsia za prihodite.)

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The Court ruled that under Article 203 of Directive 2006/112/EC, value added tax (VAT) is payable by the issuer of an invoice regardless of the existence of an actual taxable transaction, while tax authorities are not required to verify the existence of such transactions unless the issuer claims a correction for good faith actions. Additionally, the principles of fiscal neutrality, proportionality, and the protection of legitimate expectations do not prevent the refusal of input VAT deduction when no actual taxable transaction occurred, provided that the recipient is not held responsible for verifying the issuer's compliance with tax obligations. The court emphasized that any determination of fraud or irregularities must be based on objective evidence without imposing undue verification burdens on the recipient of the invoice.AI