Notice for the OJ

 

Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Østre Landsret by order of that court of 11 February 2005 in De Danske Bilimportører v Skatteministeriet

(Case C-98/05)

Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the European Communities by order of the Østre Landsret (Denmark) of 11 February 2005, received at the Court Registry on 24 February 2005, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings between De Danske Bilimportører and Skatteministeriet on the following questions:

Is Article 11(A)(2)(a) in conjunction with Article 11(A)(3)(c) of the Sixth VAT Directive ¹ to be interpreted as meaning that a registration duty for motor vehicles (cars) must be included in the taxable amount for VAT, where a purchase agreement is entered into for the supply of a new motor vehicle for use for carrying passengers, where the motor vehicle is supplied, in accordance with the purchase agreement and the purchaser's intended use, by the dealer to the consumer in the registered state and for an overall price which includes both the price paid to the dealer and also the duty?

May a Member State arrange its tax system in such a way that the registration duty is regarded as an expense which the dealer pays on behalf of the final purchaser, so that it is the final purchaser who is immediately liable to pay the duty?

Is it of significance with respect to Questions 1 and 2 that a car may be purchased and supplied without payment of registration duty, which will be possible if the purchaser does not intend to use the car for ordinary carriage of passengers or goods within the area in which the Traffic Law applies?

Is it of significance that used motor vehicles are to a not insubstantial extent imported or brought inter alia as goods in connection with a transfer of residence by the final consumer, who pays the registration duty himself without the intervention of a dealer?

Is it of significance that the liability to registration duty arises or falls due - possibly as an expense - before the liability to VAT arises or falls due?

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¹ - Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonisation of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes - Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment, OJ L 145 of 13.6.1977, p. 1.