Neither carriers nor consumers will be able to apply for a refund of the tax on mineral oils annulled by the CJEU

Following the annulment by the CJEU, the SC had to decide who was entitled to request a refund of the tax unduly paid as it was contrary to EU law.

This decision was eagerly awaited because the aforementioned regional section of the IEH was in force from 2013 to 2018 and, depending on the decision, could lead to very significant refunds for the State, as had happened a few years earlier with the ‘céntimo sanitario’ (the predecessor of this regional rate of the IEH).

The IEH, unlike VAT, is a single-phase tax, which means that it is only levied once. VAT, on the other hand, is passed on through all the links in the production chain. The IEH is levied only when the oil leaves the tax warehouse and is purchased by the distributor. The rest of the chain until it reaches the final consumer is not legally charged this tax. Although the cost of this tax may be included for them, this is only from an economic point of view, but not from a legal-taxation point of view.

The SC has established that only those who are legally obliged to bear the tax can apply for a refund of the unduly paid amount. Those who suffered only an economic impact are not entitled to claim a refund. This is very relevant because it means that those who purchased diesel at a petrol station (e.g. hauliers or final consumers), although they bore the cost of the tax economically, cannot claim a refund of the tax annulled by the CJEU.

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