On 22 April 2026, the EU General Court ruled in Mokoryte (T-233/25) that buying a claim does not buy the right to adjust VAT on it.
The case
In 2007, a Romanian developer engaged a contractor, which in turn engaged a subcontractor. The developer went bankrupt in 2014. The contractor did not pay all of the subcontractor's invoices. The parties agreed that the contractor would pay part and assign the rest of its claim on the developer to the subcontractor. In 2021, the subcontractor issued corrective invoices and asked for a VAT refund. The Romanian tax authority refused: the subcontractor's customer was the contractor, not the developer.
The ruling
Article 90 of the VAT Directive precludes the adjustment. There are two separate transactions, and the subcontractor stands outside the one between contractor and developer. It is not the taxable person liable for VAT on that transaction.
The right to reduce the taxable amount is ancillary to the VAT debt of the taxable person concerned. An assignment of a claim cannot transfer the supplier's obligation to pay VAT, or its right to adjust afterwards. National civil law rules on assignment do not change this.
What to check
- Before you accept a claim on a third party in place of payment, work out who can still recover the VAT.
- Bad debt relief follows the supply you made, to the customer you made it to. Pursue your own customer for your own invoice.
- Review settlements in construction chains, where this structure is more likely to appear.
mr. J. el Khalfioui LL.M.