CJEU ruling: Late receipt of an invoice does not automatically shift the VAT deduction period.

Late delivery of an invoice does not necessarily have to automatically shift the VAT deduction period if, at the time the tax return is filed, the taxpayer already has the tax document available. The EU General Court’s judgment in case T-689/24, I. S.A. v. Dyrektor Krajowej Informacji Skarbowej, dated 11 February 2026, addresses whether, as the recipient of a supply, it is possible to claim a VAT deduction in the period in which the taxable supply actually arose, even though the invoice was only received in the following month, but still before the deadline for filing the tax return.

Background of the dispute

I. S.A., a VAT payer in Poland, purchased gas and electricity as part of its business activities. In connection with this supply, it faced a typical timing mismatch: the taxable supply fell within one tax period, but the invoices documenting the purchase for that relevant tax period were only received in the following tax period, although no later than at the moment the company filed its tax return. The matter ultimately reached the Court of Justice of the European Union, which, in the context of a preliminary ruling, examined whether the Polish domestic legislation is consistent with the EU VAT Directive and the principles of neutrality and proportionality.

Conflict between domestic and EU legislation

The Polish domestic legislation governing the claiming of input VAT on received supplies is almost identical to the Czech domestic legislation, which sets out the conditions for exercising the right to deduct tax in Section 73 of the Czech VAT Act. On the one hand, the Czech VAT Act states that the entitlement arises at the moment when the facts giving rise to the obligation to declare tax occur. At the same time, however, it provides that, in order to exercise the deduction, the substantive legal conditions for the right to deduct must be met, one of which is having the tax document available, and that the deduction may be claimed no earlier than in the period in which these conditions are fulfilled.

By contrast, EU legislation provides that a taxable supply is made, and the tax liability arises, upon the delivery of goods or the provision of services. The right to deduct tax arises at the moment the tax liability on the deductible tax arises. In other words, the EU VAT Directive states that the invoice is a formal condition for exercising the deduction, not a reason to defer the possibility of claiming it to a later period, provided that the taxpayer has it before filing the return for the original period.

The decision and its implications

The Polish tax authority issued an individual interpretative ruling in which it concluded that the right to deduct is linked to the fulfilment of formal conditions, in particular the receipt of the tax document. The Voivodeship Administrative Court in Warsaw subsequently dismissed the action brought against that ruling and agreed that, in order to claim the deduction, the taxpayer must have the document available. Judgment T-689/24 demonstrates that the approaches of the two legal frameworks differ. For this reason, it will be interesting to see how Czech legislators respond, and whether they amend the current wording of the Czech VAT Act, since the state should base its legislation on EU legal rules and case law and adapt its national regulations so that they comply with EU law. Until any such change is made, however, it is necessary to proceed on the basis of the current interpretation of the law, namely that the taxpayer is entitled to claim the right to deduct tax no earlier than for the tax period in which the conditions set out in Section 73 of the Czech VAT Act are met, i.e. to have the document available already at the moment the entitlement arises.

If you are unsure about the interpretation of the law, or if you are interested in a more detailed tax assessment in a similar or any other matter, do not hesitate to contact our tax department.

Contact us