Van Laarhoven v Staatsecretaris van Financiën

In the Netherlands case of Van Laarhoven v Staatsecretaris van Financiën (CJEU Case C-594/10) the CJEU held that Article 6(2)(a) of the EC Sixth Directive ‘must be interpreted as precluding national fiscal legislation which initially authorises a taxable person whose passenger vehicles are used for both business and private purposes to deduct input value added tax immediately and in full but which subsequently provides as regards private use of those vehicles for annual taxation based – for determining the taxable amount of value added tax owed in a given financial year – on a flat-rate method of calculating expenses relating to such use which does not take account on a proportional basis of the actual extent of that private use’.

Why it matters: The CJEU held that the relevant Netherlands legislation contravened Article...