Court of Justice (Ninth Chamber) 12 March 2026, C-521/24 (Aptiv Services Hungary Kft. contre Nemzeti Adó- és Vámhivatal Fellebbviteli Igazgatósága.)

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In a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU, the Court of Justice (Ninth Chamber) held that Articles 168(c), 178(c), 179, 180, and 182 of the VAT Directive (2006/112/EC, as amended by Directive 2010/45/EU), read in light of the principles of fiscal neutrality, proportionality, and effectiveness, preclude national legislation and administrative practice under which deduction of VAT on intra-Community acquisitions of goods is refused solely because the taxable person exercised the right of deduction in the tax period during which it actually received the necessary invoices, rather than in the period during which the acquisitions were made. The Court reasoned that, where the taxable person could not have exercised the right of deduction earlier due to the late receipt of invoices from suppliers, and where both the substantive conditions for deduction were met and the applicable limitation period had not expired, denying deduction renders the exercise of that right practically impossible or excessively difficult in breach of the effectiveness principle, and may systematically undermine VAT neutrality in breach of the proportionality principle. The ruling further clarifies that the obligation under Article 178(c) to hold an invoice is a formal—not substantive—condition, and that the unavailability of alternative national procedural mechanisms (such as self-correction or special refund procedures) reinforces the incompatibility of such a refusal with EU law where the taxable person acted in good faith.AI