European Court of Justice Issues Preliminary Ruling on Romanian VAT Rules

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) Feb. 16 issued a preliminary ruling for Case No. C-519/21, clarifying Romanian VAT rules. Four individuals formed an association without legal personality, to construct apartments for sale to third parties. The Romanian tax authority found one of the individuals liable for VAT and late payment penalties, in relation to transactions of another member of the association. Upon request for a preliminary ruling, the ECJ held that under EU Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of VAT: 1) parties to association contracts without legal personality, which aren’t registered before commencing economic activity, can’t be deemed ...