German VAT changes

There have been a number of updates to the German VAT compliance regime. These include:

• It has been confirmed by the Finance Ministry that non-residents may not reclaim via 8^th or 13^th VAT Directive refunds any input VAT on invoices relating to exports or intra-community dispatches if the conditions for zero-rating have been met.
• The German tax court, BFH, struck down an attempt to recover input VAT on pre-incorporation expenses when the incorporation did not ultimately take place.
• The Cologne tax tribunal (FG Koln) has confirmed that scans of copy invoices had been acceptable for an 8^th Directive VAT reclaim. However, since December 2014, the German authorities now permit a scan copy of the original invoice only for a VAT refund.