Judgment_paragraph 23 · Beteiligungsgesellschaft Larentia + Minerva mbH & Co. KG v Finanzamt Nordenham and Finanzamt Hamburg-Mitte v Marenave Schiffahrts AG (C-108/14, C-109/14)

23For VAT to be deductible, the input transactions must have a direct and immediate link with the output transactions giving rise to a right of deduction. Thus, the right to deduct VAT charged on the acquisition of input goods or services presupposes that the expenditure incurred in acquiring them was a component of the cost of the output transactions that gave rise to the right to deduct (see, in particular, judgments in Cibo Participations, C‑16/00, EU:C:2001:495 paragraph 31, and Portugal Telecom, C‑496/11, EU:C:2012:557, paragraph 36).