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Articoli Correlati: VAT - deduction - transfer free of charge

On 16 September 2020, the E.U. Court of Justice, deciding the case C-528/19, Mitteldeutsche Hartstein-Industrie AG, offered interesting insights on some "hot" issues of the VAT system, in particular on the deduction of the VAT paid on purchases and the taxability of transfers "free of charge". The matter decided concerned a German company that had obtained from the departmental administration the authorization to open and cultivate a limestone quarry. This concession was subject to the implementation of some interventions for the arrangement of a municipal road connecting with the quarry, intended for the transit of both heavy vehicles directed to it and, to a lesser extent, cars. The company had deducted the VAT relating to the aforementioned works. According to the judges, the taxable person who carries out expansion works on a municipal road in the face of obtaining an authorization for the exploitation of a quarry can deduct the VAT paid upstream to the extent that he uses this road to carry out his own business activity. The subject does not carry out a transaction for consideration (the authorization granted unilaterally by the public body cannot represent the consideration) nor a free transfer: in the present case, the exit of the asset from the company does not result in consumption final tax exemption, but is aimed at obtaining an economic advantage