Judgment_paragraph 45 · PPUH Stehcemp sp. j Florian Stefanek, Janina Stefanek, Jaroslaw Stefanek v Dyrektor Izby Skarbowej w Łodzi (C-277/14)

45In addition, the VAT which PPUH Stehcemp actually paid in respect of the fuel supplies at issue in the main proceedings, according to the information in the documents submitted to the Court, was also ‘due or paid’, within the meaning of Article 17(2)(a) of the Sixth Directive. It is settled case-law that VAT applies to each transaction by way of production or distribution after deduction of the VAT directly borne by the various cost components (see, inter alia, judgments in Optigen and Others, C‑354/03, C‑355/03 and C‑484/03, EU:C:2006:16, paragraph 54; Kittel and Recolta Recycling, C‑439/04 and C‑440/04, EU:C:2006:446, paragraph 49; and Bonik, C‑285/11, EU:C:2012:774, paragraph 28). Therefore, the question whether or not the supplier of the goods at issue in the main proceedings has paid the VAT due on those transactions to the public purse has no bearing on the right of the taxable person to deduct input VAT (see, to that effect, judgments in Optigen and Others, C‑354/03, C‑355/03 and C‑484/03, EU:C:2006:16, paragraph 54, and in Véleclair, C‑414/10, EU:C:2012:183, paragraph 25).