In Kreissparkasse Wiedenbrück v Finanzamt Wiedenbrück Case C-186/15 (1 June 2016) the CJEU found that where member states had allowed or required taxpayers to use a sectorised or similar partial exemption method (as opposed to a simple turnover-based apportionment of input tax incurred) EU law did not require rounding up.
The Kreissparkasse was a credit institution. It had deducted 13.55% input tax in relation to its mixed use supplies for the year 2009 and 13.18% for the year 2010; and it had rounded up both percentages to 14%. The German tax authority considered that a tax adjustment was required as the Kreissparkasse should not have rounded up.
The issue was therefore whether rounding up was required when ascertaining the deductible proportion under the principal VAT directive art 175(1).
The CJEU observed that member states are allowed to take measures to achieve greater accuracy when applying a partial...
