According to a judgment handed down by the General Court of the European Union – Judgment of 9 September 2026, Case T-614/25, when goods are sold several times in succession but only move once between Member States, the question of which sale the transport should be linked to was revisited by the Court.
When goods are sold several times in succession but only move once between Member States, which sale should the transport be linked to? The General Court of the EU revisited the rules in a judgment handed down on 9 September 2026.
Latvian company Trading 4 sold petroleum products subject to excise duty to intermediaries based in Estonia and the UK, among others. These intermediaries then sold the goods on to their own customers in other Member States. The goods travelled in a single shipment from Latvia to the Member State of destination, in some cases under an excise duty suspension arrangement.
The Latvian Tax Authority refused the exemption Trading 4 had applied. In its view, the transport belonged to the intermediaries’ onward sales, as they had already resold the goods before they left Latvia. Their sales invoices were even dated the same day as their purchase invoices.
The General Court confirmed that the transport can only be linked to one supply in the chain, and only that supply can qualify for the exemption under Article 138(1) of the VAT Directive, provided the other conditions are met. The fact that the goods left the Member State of departure is therefore not enough to exempt the first sale. What matters is when, and to which buyer, the right to dispose of the goods as owner passed. This depends on the contractual terms between the parties and how the goods were handed over.
In practice, if the intermediary has already sold the goods on and passed the right to dispose of them to its customer before the transport begins, the first sale cannot be exempt. It remains a domestic supply in the Member State of departure. Moving the goods under excise duty suspension makes no difference. Businesses should therefore check that their contracts, delivery terms and invoices clearly reflect when that right passes.
