Rozhodnutí SDEU v případu Stellantis k uplatnění DPH u převodních cen

In the Stellantis case C-603/24, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) confirmed that the mere adjustment of transfer prices between car manufacturers and distributors, taking into account certain costs (e.g., warranty repairs), is not sufficient to conclude that it constitutes remuneration for a service. The key factor is whether there is a legal relationship with mutual obligations and a direct link between the performance and the remuneration, whereby the remuneration must represent the actual consideration for an identifiable service.

In the given situation, the transfer pricing adjustment aimed to achieve a predetermined profit margin between car manufacturers and distributors. It was calculated based on multiple parameters, with repair costs representing only one of them. Under these circumstances, the CJEU concluded that any link between the “provision of a service” and the transfer pricing adjustment is at most indirect. Therefore, it does not meet the requirement of direct link for VAT purposes. Conversely, if a specific legal relationship is proven, under which one entity provides a service and the other pays remuneration for it, transfer pricing adjustments may represent remuneration for a service subject to VAT.

The CJEU left it to the national court to assess whether the transfer pricing adjustment should be treated as a subsequent adjustment to the price of the original supply of goods.

The opinion of the Advocate General, which offered a broader analysis of the VAT treatment of transfer pricing and their adjustments, had raised high expectations. However, the CJEU did not address this analysis and, once again, it did not go beyond the scope of the preliminary question referred.

Authors:

Ivana Krylová

Lucie Karpíšková