Failure to designate the final purchaser as tax debtor in EU VAT triangulations
2026 · Fiscalità & commercio internazionale
The simplified regime for intra-Community triangulations allows the promoter, a VAT taxable person in Italy, to avoid VAT registration in the EU country of destination of the goods, provided that the invoice issued by the promoter designates the final purchaser as the person liable for the tax through the "reverse charge" mechanism. The Court of Justice of the European Union, in Case C-247/21 (Luxury Trust Automobile), clarified that this wording is a substantive requirement of the simplified regime: its omission permanently precludes access to the simplification and cannot be remedied ex post. In its absence, the Italian promoter's intra-Community acquisition becomes relevant for VAT purposes in the territory of the State, without however giving rise to a related right to deduct the tax, since the related goods do not physically transit through that country. After introducing the conditions for applying the simplified regime, this paper aims – without claiming to be exhaustive – to analyze the consequences associated with a potential failure to designate the final purchaser as the person liable for the tax and, secondarily, to identify possible documentary safeguards aimed at verifying VAT payment in the State of the final purchaser, with a view to safeguarding the neutrality of the tax within the Community.