The judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in case C-248/23 was recently published. It dealt with the VAT framework applicable to contributions paid by a pharmaceutical company to the state health insurance organization.
The CJEU held that, since part of the consideration obtained following the sale of medicines by the pharmaceutical company was not received by the latter due to the contribution it sends to the state health insurance organization, which pays pharmacies part of the price of those medicines, it must be considered that the price of those medicines was reduced after the transaction was carried out.
It was therefore decided that such price reductions should allow the entities paying these contributions to recover the corresponding VAT.
In Portugal, this decision is relevant to all entities subject to the payment of the extraordinary contribution on the pharmaceutical industry, regardless of whether or not they have joined the agreement between the Portuguese State and the pharmaceutical industry.
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