Official Journal of the European Union

C 71/7

(Case C-589/12)

2013/C 71/12

Language of the case: English

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: The Commissioners for Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs

Defendant: GMAC UK PLC

Questions referred

1.To what extent is a taxable person, in relation to two transactions concerning the same goods, entitled both (i) to invoke the direct effect of one provision of EC Council Directive 77/388 (1) (‘the Sixth VAT Directive’) in respect of one transaction and (ii) to rely on the provisions of national law in relation to the other transaction, when to do so would produce an overall fiscal result in relation to the two transactions which neither national law nor the Sixth VAT Directive applied separately to those two transactions produces or is intended to produce?

2.If the answer to Question 1 is that there are circumstances in which the taxable person would not be entitled to do so (or would not be entitled to do so to a particular extent), what are the circumstances in which this would be so and in particular what is the relationship between the two transactions which would give rise to such circumstances?

3.Do the answers to Questions 1 and 2 differ according to whether or not the national treatment of one transaction is in conformity with the Sixth VAT Directive?

(1) Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC of 17 May 1977 on the harmonization of the laws of the Member States relating to turnover taxes — Common system of value added tax: uniform basis of assessment OJ L 145, p. 1