Export will be exempt from VAT even in case of delay

A food company won a case at the European Court of Justice against the Hungarian state.

The food manufacturer filed a lawsuit because the Hungarian state only recognised that export was exempt from VAT if the consignment left the territory of the European Union in 90 days. At the moment the name of the company isn’t known but it is rumoured to be Bonduelle. Many enterprises had similar problems in the past and the National Tax and Customs Administration (NAV) imposed fines in such cases many times. The representative of the company in the case, Dr Ágoston Gerey told Trade magazin that the court’s ruling was that the 90-day deadline stipulated by Hungary’s VAT law is in contradiction with the European Commission’s VAT directive and that in case of a delay the law didn’t give exporting firms a chance to prove that the goods did leave the EU’s territory in the end. The Luxembourg decision and the imminent change in Hungary’s VAT law will make it possible for the approximately 60,000 Hungarian exporting firms to prove that their products left the European Union’s territory.