Daimler AG v Skatteverket

In Daimler AG v Skatteverket (CJEU Case C-318/11) a German company (D) manufactured cars and tested them in Sweden. It applied to the Swedish tax authority for a refund of input tax on expenditure relating to this. The tax authority rejected the claim on the basis that D had a fixed establishment in Sweden. D appealed contending that it as only carried out research in Sweden and did not make any taxable supplies in Sweden it should not be treated as having a fixed establishment there. The case was referred to the CJEU for a ruling on the interpretation of the expression ‘fixed establishment from which business transactions are effected’ in Article 1 of the Eighth Directive. The CJEU gave judgment in favour of D holding that ‘a taxable person for VAT established in one Member State and carrying out in another Member State only technical...