RAIFFEISEN LEASING, C-235/21, opinion, 12.05.2022

The Slovenian company RED owned a land. It entered into a sales and lease back agreement with Raiffeisen leasing to finance construction on the land.

As a result of this agreement, RED sold the land to Reiffeisen. Reiffeisen then gave the land to RED to use for payment of rental fees. Raiffeisen did not issue any separate invoice document for rental fees. However, the contract clearly indicated the amount of VAT resulting from the rent payments.

The circumstances of the case are not completely clear. However, they show that, according to the tax authorities, Raiffeisen was obliged to pay the VAT resulting from the contract on the basis of Article 203 of the VAT Directive, and RED was entitled to deduct this VAT.

Reiffeisen argued that the contract could not be considered an invoice and that the contract did not contain all the elements of an invoice, so there was no risk of a loss of tax revenue.

The Advocate General agreed that the contract could potentially be an invoice.

He concluded that “a written contract may, exceptionally, be considered as an invoice (…) even if it does not contain all the data prescribed by (…) the directive, if sufficient elements are indicated in this document allowing the administration authorities to check the payment of the tax due and, where applicable, the existence of the right to deduct the value added tax”.