Opinion of Advocate General Wahl in the joined cases Geissel and Butin.
Wahl proposes that the Court answer the questions referred for a preliminary ruling by the Bundesfinanzhof (Federal Finance Court, Germany) as follows:
– Article 226(5) of Council Directive 2006/112/EC precludes national legislation that subjects the right to deduction of value added tax to the indication on the invoice of the address where the issuer carries out its economic activity.
– Article 168(a) and Article 178(a) of the VAT Directive preclude national legislation according to which, where the formal conditions of invoices are not fulfilled, deduction is granted only if the taxable person proves that he took every measure that could reasonably be required of him in order to satisfy himself that the content of the invoice was correct.
– It is for the national court to assess whether the national procedural rules under which a taxable person may invoke his good faith regarding the integrity of the invoice are compatible with the principle of effectiveness, in the light in particular of the length, complexity and costs associated with the relevant procedures.
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