The European Commission (EC) has warned Germany that it must reduce its unreasonable restrictions on providing VAT refunds to non-resident businesses.
In a reasoned opinion, issued on 19 July 2018, the EC says Germany has been unjustified in not making refunds to taxpayers from other member states where all reasonable information required in accordance with the EU VAT refund directive has been provided.
The EC had already sent Germany a formal notice letter in October 2017, stating its view that German procedures were too stringent and broke EU VAT refund rules.
Germany now has two months to comply with the EC’s request or face a referral to the European Court of Justice.
