In Mecsek-Gabona Kft v Nemzeti Adó- és Vámhivatal Dél-dunántúli Regionális Adó Főigazgatósága (CJEU Case C-273/11) the CJEU held that Article 138(1) of Directive 2006/112/EC did not preclude the tax authority from refusing ‘to grant a vendor the right to the VAT exemption for an intra-Community supply provided that it has been established on the basis of objective evidence that the vendor has failed to fulfil its obligations as regards evidence or that it knew or should have known that the transaction which it carried out was part of a tax fraud committed by the purchaser and that it had not taken every reasonable step within its power to prevent its own participation in that fraud’. However a vendor could not be refused exemption ‘solely on the ground that the tax authority of another Member State has removed the purchaser’s VAT identification number from...
