Notice for the OJ

 

Reference for a preliminary ruling by the Athens Appeal Court by order of that Court of 31 January 2002 in the case of the Greek State against Maria Karageorgou

    (Case C-78/02)

Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the European Communities by order of the Athens Appeal Court (Greece) of 31 January 2002, received at the Court Registry on 11 March 2002, for a preliminary ruling in the case of the Greek State against Maria Karageorgou on the following questions:

a)Is it possible to characterise as VAT, within the meaning of the provisions of the Sixth VAT Directive (77/388/EEC)¹, the amount mentioned on an invoice by a person who provides services to the State as a salaried employee, when the person providing those services mistakenly considers that he is providing services to the State as a self-employed person whilst, in reality, he is an employee and, on the recommendation of his employer, charges VAT on the invoices issued by him and not on his total earnings received from the State, which in law constitute the tax basis of assessment to VAT, subsequently collected from his earnings, but where the amount thereof is determined on the earnings by means of an internal deduction method and the earnings are regarded as containing the amount of VAT owed, while the State reduces the amount of legitimate earnings paid to that person by the element of VAT they are calculated to contain?

b)Can there be a departure from the formal principle governing the tax as set out in Article 21(1)(c) of the Sixth VAT Directive (77/388/EEC) (that is to say, where VAT is mentioned on the invoice or other document serving as an invoice, such tax is payable to the State), where the State, in performing that activity in pursuance of its public authority, is under Article 4(5) of the above directive not subject to tax, so as to render the mechanism of deductions inapplicable thereto, and the said tax cannot be and is not passed on to the end consumer (namely, the individual who contracts with the State for the translation of documents), the provider of services being entitled to reimbursement of the tax paid to the tax authority after deduction of any input tax in order to avoid the State's enrichment as a result thereof?

____________

¹ - OJ L 145 of 13.6.1977, p. 1.