Where there is a risk of tax fraud or tax abuse, Member States should be able to enforce anti-fraud measures and to conduct thorough investigations before processing a request for a quick refund. In order to do so, Member States should have the right to reject a refund request under certain conditions. Those conditions should include cases where the requirements for such a request are not met or where the payment chain cannot be reconstructed. It should also be possible to reject a refund request where a Member State decides to initiate a verification procedure or tax audit based on risk assessment criteria. It should be possible to carry out those verification procedures or tax audits in any case that is identified as posing a risk of tax fraud or tax abuse.
Text as published in the Official Journal, reproduced verbatim (including any typographical quirks of the source). For the authentic version, see EUR-Lex.
