El derecho a la deducción del IVA soportado en la jurisprudencia comunitaria

Abstract

The right to deduct input VAT borne by VAT taxable persons is a key element for an efficient operation of the common VAT system. It is also a fundamental right to preserve the principle of neutrality of VAT.

The European Court of Justice has explicitly shown its criterion supporting the key importance of the right to deduct input VAT and the necessity to avoid excessive limitations on said right. The criterion of the Court has been constant over time. Nevertheless, an evolution can be observed from the former Sentences to the most recent ones. This happens, to a large degree, due to new circumstances and new factual situations which, in the past, were anecdotal. Such as, for example, the complex fraud schemes that currently exist.

The present article carries out a detailed analysis of some of the most important cases from the European Court of Justice about the right to deduct input VAT and the possible limitations to said right. A more detailed analysis is done for those cases which are considered, for several reasons, as having special relevance.