Poland taken to European Court over VAT on registration tax

J Martinelli

Mar 21st 2009, 18:30

@ Charles J Buttigieg

If you think that gonzipn is in an embarrassing position regarding the VAT issue, may I remind you of so many MLP embarrassing situations, the latest of which was switching VAT to CET to the glee of shopkeepers who smashed their cash registers only to find out that they had to buy new ones anyway! If that is not embarrassing, what is ?

But embarrassments aside, from the foregoing report it seems to me that the EU rules regarding this issue are very much nebulous and subject to interpretation. If it takes the ECJ to rule once and for all, so be it. The government already stated that if the local and ECJ rule against the VAT on registration tax, then refunds will follow.

Sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, however, a comparable tax increase to recover the amount of the refunds will follow, but I suppose it will make AD and LP happy, so it's all a fair game! The other option the government has is to postpone planned income tax reductions. Then both the AD and LP will have to explain or, as usual, promise the impossible.

C Mallia

Mar 20th 2009, 19:15

@all those who voted No to join the EU The PN has worked for Malta to join the EU. That means that EU rules have to be obeyed by all prospective Maltese governments, may they be PN or PL. No citizen would have been able to take Malta legally to the EU level, if not with PN's politics and that includes Joseph Muscat. All the 14,000 applying at the PLs offices only have this opportunity (and power) because we are now in the EU. Sorry Minister Tonio Fenech, you are in a no-win situation. If the EU courts will find that the Maltese government has illegally charged VAT, the people will loose trust in your capability to administer and you will be always seen as the person responsible for this mess. If the EU finds in favour of the goverment, still morally, many people will judge against you.

joe mercieca

Mar 20th 2009, 17:35

ma nahsibx li sew hallast il vat lingrittera hu hallast il vat hawn malta, meta malta mhux suppost hallast. nispera li zballi bhal dawn jirrangaw

Ian Galea

Mar 20th 2009, 11:56

I am Maltese and I live in Poland. It is realy rediculous to compare Malta to Poland in this case. In Poland registrating a car does not cost more then 30 MALTESE POUNDS. I live here I have car my self and I know what I paid for registration as I bought it from Germany. Although still the VAT paid is not so called legal, but the registration is minimal. We should rather talk on what the government is taking from us from registrating a car. When I talk about it to people in Poland or in Germany they laugh about it and say it is ridiculous. Keep it up and keep pushing the MALTESE people underwater. What a shame....

Joe Galea

Mar 20th 2009, 08:27

....and again the GonziPn orchestrated PN apologist posting in here, try to twist things and insult the PL especially JM. You are just battling a lost cause.

Joe Vella (Mellieha) is preparing the coffee for you all GonziPN aopologists to smell it....lol

L..Galea

Mar 19th 2009, 23:39

susan mallia
After 1 May 2004 that tax became ILLEGAL.
Gonezipn MUST refund it together with interests.

silvio farrugia

Mar 19th 2009, 22:45

How arrogant is this government I voted for.....not again..........let us become like the french............notice on the news how they rise and paralyse the country everytime their government even hints at running roughshod over them.....we are sheep......we should paralyse the island and go down into the streets like the french do......has the election past Mr Government and you think we will forget by 2013...well we will not

D.Williams

Mar 19th 2009, 20:12

This just shows the Maltese government that they cannot be in breach of eec laws and just as Poland and other countries to follow so i read. Governments must reimburse ALL the monies that was taken illegally from their citizens., Good on you Mr. Muscat take them all the way to the cleaners if necessary. Dennis Williams

Albert Bezzina

Mar 19th 2009, 19:45

O. Grech.
"will the government introduce a tax and will take back more" Well that decision is up to the Government but it is now fully aware of the consequences of persisting with an unfair scenario.
"will reduce the budget on some important areas which country needs". With €180million annually siphoned from motorists' wallets like sitting ducks, it is easy to splash out on pre-election budgets and programs which may or may not be commendable. It is now the public's perception and many people's conviction that the VAT paid on registration tax is owed back and it should never have been utilized for whatever cause, however magnanimous it may have been. The Courts will decide on the legality or illegality of this tax and, in the case of ruling against the Government, that money still effectively belongs to the persons from which it had been usurped and therefore the Government would have had no right to use it for whatever cause under the pretext of national necessities. If €50million was never collected, the claimed use of this money would have never been possible. Well, for the next two years make something else not possible and give the money back!

john F.Galea

Mar 19th 2009, 19:44

Before rushing to any different and erroneous conclusions, please do let the Courts give a ruling. After all those who bought any vehicles knew quite well how much they had to pay. Any refunds would have to be met out of Government funds collected in the form of taxes from the general public. So the public would then be the poorer. Stop giving this issue a political slant.

Mario Mercieca

Mar 19th 2009, 19:42

What has arrogance got to do with this? The tax has been there ever since VAT was reintroduced in 1998/99. The EU examined all our legistlation in the screening process and we need not change this. This is only cheap propganda for the labour party, as already has been said "buying votes with taxpayers money". The goverment should remain strong on this.

Claudine Bonavia

Mar 19th 2009, 19:40

i guess the government will have to backtrack on this issue as well. It is interesting that irrispective of the critique, at times denigrating, being levied at the PL, it is the latter that is more in tune with the European trail of thought on issues as tax and consumer rights rather than the Government. It seems that government and the PN have lost all their european vision upon reaching the membership goal. it is useless to continue crying on what positions have been taken in the past. As the PM says judge by action not words. As time goes by it is bvecoming more clear that Joseph Muscat's actions are more effective and on the ball than the PM's. The latter is all words and no action as of late

Charles J Buttigieg

Mar 19th 2009, 19:22

@ Joe Vella (Mellieha) Part Two.
Louis Grech MEP took up the matter with the ‘Commission’ after two other members took the same actions. The Commission agreed with Louis Grech however the ‘Commission’ is not empowered to order the Government to refund; it is only able to enforce the Union Members to bring themselves in line with EU Regulations. The Citizens would then need to claim reimbursement through their respective law. Parliaments make the Laws. Administrative Enforcement is left to the Courts of Law.

The hard question which I can’t answer is whether our Courts would apply the two year prescriptive rule to the letter or whether they use their moral judgement in consideration of the background instead of applying the legal median that ‘ignorance is no excuse’. If that happens the illicit VAT payers have got the assurance from the PL that when it returns to power they will get back what morally belongs to them and that would be Social Justice in motion not just in the song.

Charles J Buttigieg

Mar 19th 2009, 19:20

@ Joe Vella (Mellieha) Part One.
It would take a Spin Doctor, a Guru of international repute to try to get Gonzipn out of this embarrassing situation, yet you decided to have a go at it. Man facts are facts and not even the Finance Minister has the courage to deny them. He is just finding excuses to justify the wrongdoing.
The VAT on vehicles registration fee was VAT on tax even though our government used the term ‘fee’.

No party in opposition has the luxury of legal experts and other civil servants as enjoyed by the party in administration and therefore mismanagement of people funds, illicit tax collections and other irregularities take time to be noticed by the opposition. Isn’t this obvious?

D Grech

Mar 19th 2009, 19:13

Dear O Grech
Very clever only not so. To play around with the law or with words is not smart. Whichever way you look at it we have had our hard earned money stolen from us and we want it back. Even if the Government takes up your argument and wins it is still deceit by stealth,Not what we elect a Government for.

Albert Bezzina

Mar 19th 2009, 19:08

O Grech.
"registration tax is borne by the supplier and he then simply includes it in the price of the car to pass it on to the customer" There are two issues here. New car importers DO NOT pay registration tax or VAT on the registration tax while the imported car is still in bonded storage. It is only when the purchaser actually gives the down payment or the bank draft from the personal loan to the car importer that the registration tax is actually settled. So the importer in this case is specifically paying RT and VAT on RT on purchasers behalf. With personal imports, this is a clear case where the importer himself is paying the registration tax on no ones behalf but him/her self. It is only with second hand car importers where one can argue as O. Grech as these dealers have to pay (at least on paper) RT and the VAT due before any client shows an interest in purchasing.
VAT is a tax on value added; a tax on the cost of manufacture and on the value of the commission taken by the dealer. Registration tax doesn't add value so should not attract VAT.

susan mallia

Mar 19th 2009, 18:33

could we please step back and check a basic fact here. is poland being taken to court over a tax which was charged in the past or because it is still doing it now? as far as i know its still doing it now, while the maltese govt has stopped charging and the issue here is about the past while poland unlike malta has defied the EU.

J Busuttil

Mar 19th 2009, 18:24

No there is no arrogance from Tonio fenech, The matter is before the court and if the tax was legal I do NOT want to pay anyone's tax.

J. Mifsud

Mar 19th 2009, 17:37

The problem with the Government is arrogance and arrogance and arrogance with a capital A, and it seems that it takes pleasure to confront the people at most times, wearing the Big Brother Attire.

The Vat paid on the registration tax should be refunded immediately to the people, who, for many,are facing the hardest time in their lifetime with high water and electricity bills, higher car licences, high cost of living, long waiting lists in hospital, lower wages etc, not to mention disastrous roads and so on.

I call on the Government to stop acting like Nero and for once listen to the peoples' cries, and to at least remember that it is walking on a thin high rope. If the authorities think that they cannot do any better, they know what they should do,........ resign and let others try to do better.

raymond Spiteri

Mar 19th 2009, 16:51

HERE COMES THE WAKE UP CALL FROM EU MR. GATT AND MR. FENECH. STOP YOU ARROGANCE, JUST REFUND WHAT YOUR GOVERNMENT TOOK TO THE CONSUMERS. YOUR GOV IS LOSING CREDIBILITY. JPO SPEAK OUT LOUD AND CLEAR.
RAY

A Grech

Mar 19th 2009, 16:46

We need MEP candidates who can truly represent the Maltese people in Europe. I believe there are good candidates on both sides. My appeal is to choose wisely and give a chance to fresh candidates who this time around seem fit to run the business

K Mallia

Mar 19th 2009, 16:41

Ok.. ok.... Now that is some news. Does this mean we have been taken for a ride by GonziPN for quite some time? Does this mean that once again the EU is telling our prime that being an EU member is not just for showing off before elections saying 'We are the yes party'?

Guess the people must wake up and take a stand. People need to make their voice heard. Dear GonziPN step down. Il-pajjiz hu ahjar minn min qed imexxih.

We were promised 'serhan il-mohh' instead we got 'ugigh ta' ras'! Thanks Gonz.

O. Grech

Mar 19th 2009, 16:37

Dear D.Grech, in fact the government removed the tax, so its not an issue of the people don't want the tax. Its an issue of refund.

I studied law, and personally i deem that the law was not broken and hence those money collected are not illegal. I feel that the registration tax is borne by the supplier and he then simply includes it in the price of the car to pass it on to the customer. Given the price is the full amount, then yes VAT should be charged on the total amount. Mind you i bought a Eur21K car, so i am speaking against my own interest but that is my thought. After all should we all receive the refund, don't you think that the government will introduce a tax and will take back more than Eur50million? And if he doesn't introduce a new tax what will happen? He will reduce the budget on some important areas which the country needs money invested in.

michael cutajar

Mar 19th 2009, 16:14

GAFFE ohra ta Lawrence Gonzi. Verament Lawrence Gonzi sar ifisser UGIGH TA RAS

joanna farrugia

Mar 19th 2009, 16:12

2 all pn supporters i am waiting now for your replies especially that person who said that pl are all dreamers

Joe Vella (Mellieha.)

Mar 19th 2009, 15:58

@ Mike Pace & D. Grech

What hidden Agenda?

If the EU Commission thinks it has a case against Malta; don't you think the Commission would have taken Malta to the European Court like it did with Denmark, Holland and now Poland?

Poor souls those who who have been taken by Joseph Muscat and the PL. There is a saying that goes along these lines, "once bitten, twice shy." First, they were done by Alfred Sant and the MLP on the VAT Issue, now by Joseph Muscat and the PL on VAT levied on Car registration.

If Joseph Muscat and the PL want to come clean with these poor Souls, should come clean and publish the legal opinion they got to "trap" so many in this gimmick.

Wake up and smell the coffee.

Barth Mercieca

Mar 19th 2009, 15:41

Mr Fenech once again you've put your foot in it. Your immaturity and big-headedness is causing as many problems to the Government as the arrogant and patronising stance of your fellow minster Gatt.

J Oatmon

Mar 19th 2009, 15:34

It seems to be that there is increasing legal opposition to the VAT levy on registration tax in the EU.
Malta should 'come clean' and agree to refund the illegal tax, and save everyone concerned a lot of hassle.
Finding the money is an issue, but the principal of fairness and legality must overide the financial issue - it could be that the monies are refunded in stages to avoid disrupting the Maltese finances at a time of stress, or something similar - but a refund is enevitable in my view.

mike pace

Mar 19th 2009, 15:31

Its also should happen to the Maltese government without any hidden agenda from the European courts at all

D Grech

Mar 19th 2009, 15:27

The people don't want this tax .It is illegal and immoral. Just who do you represent Mr Fenech cause it's certainly not the people who voted for you. You sound very arrogant to me.