Elanders applies for reassessment of VAT
Press release from Elanders AB (publ) 2010-12-22
The EU Court of Justice made a ruling in February 2010 in the so-called Graphic Procédé case and in July this year the Swedish Tax Agency issued a statement of position on the implications for Sweden. This ruling is important for the delineation between the provision of goods (i.e. printed matter) and services by printing companies. In Sweden, this delineation is of particular significance in relation to the applicability of the so-called book VAT, i.e. a reduced VAT rate of six percent.
In a press release on 16 December 2010 Elanders explained that the company was in the process of analyzing whether or not the above mentioned decision and statement of position held any consequences for Elanders. Based on the now completed analysis for 2004 Elanders will apply for a reassessment of the VAT paid in 2004 in order to recover MSEK 73.9 before tax. The reason for this is that part of Elanders’ net sales subject to VAT during this period referred to products, not services, according to the delineation now considered correct.
The above mentioned sum is what Elanders is claiming and what the Swedish Tax Agency will rule on. The Swedish Tax Agency has not yet released any detailed guidance on how individual printed matter should be classified fiscally. Since Elanders is waiting for a decision by the Swedish Tax Agency it is not possible at this time to say with certainty what impact this will have on Elanders’ result. Our assessment is that it will not affect this year’s result in any case.
Elanders intends to apply for a reassessment of the VAT paid during the fiscal years 2005-2007 next year.
Elanders AB (publ)
Elanders is required under the Securities Market Act to make the information in this press release public. The information was submitted for publication on 22 December 2010 at 8:30 am.