Small business regulation for differential taxation

The European Court of Justice must rule on how the annual turnover of a small trader is calculated in the case of differential taxation for second-hand goods.

An entrepreneur who did not generate more than 17,500 euros in sales last year and is not expected to generate more than 50,000 euros in sales in the current year can use the small business regulation for sales tax. However, it is not always clear exactly what counts as sales: whether, in the case of differential taxation for second-hand goods, the total invoice amount counts as sales or only the difference between the sales price and the entrepreneur's purchase price (trade margin), which is subject to sales tax, must now be decided by the European Court of Justice. Like the Tax Court before it, the Federal Fiscal Court tends to use only the trade margin as the basis for annual sales, but has referred the question to the European Court of Justice for final clarification.