Liquidity crisis, criminal sanctions and non-payment of VAT according to the Court of Justice of the European Union

Abstract

The continuing cash-flow crise of taxpayers, and in particular of businesses, recently exacerbated by the effects of Covid-19, raises the question whether it is acceptable in law today that the fulfilment of a debt, even if that debt is of a fiscal nature, to be subject to criminal sanctions. In the light of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 2 May 2018 in Case C-574/15, this article is fundamentally concerned with the legitimacy of the use of criminal law to sanction taxpayers who find themselves unable to fulfil their tax obligations, although they were timely and truthfully declared to the tax authorities.

Keywords

• liquidity crisis
• declared tax
• non-payment of value added tax
• criminal penalty
• fulfilment of tax debt