Treating building renovation works as immovable property acquired ad capital good for VAT adjustment purposes. the 'substance over form' approach to guarantee the principle of neutrality

We analyse the judgment on Drebers (C-243/23) ruled by the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘the Court of Justice’) on the VAT adjustment mechanism. The judges were called upon to give a preliminary ruling on the question of compatibility with Articles 187 and 189 of the VAT Directive of the legislation of a Member State (in this case, Belgium) which allows the longer adjustment period (which under Belgian law is fifteen years) for VAT on immovable property acquired as capital goods to be applied only when the construction works result in a ‘new building’ and not when they result in a significant extension and/or substantial renovation of the existing building, even though the duration of the economic life is identical to that of a new building and the works carried out are depreciated over the same period as a new building.