40It must be borne in mind in this context, first, that the period for refunding excess VAT may, as a general rule, be extended in order to carry out a tax investigation without there being any need for such an extended period to be regarded as unreasonable provided that the extension does not go beyond what is necessary for the successful completion of that investigation (judgment of 12 May 2011, Enel Maritsa Iztok 3, C‑107/10, EU:C:2011:298, paragraph 53 and the case-law cited) and, secondly, that, when the refund to the taxable person of such an excess is not made within a reasonable period, the principle of fiscal neutrality of the VAT system requires that the financial loss incurred by the taxable person by reason of the unavailability of the sums of money at issue be compensated for through the payment of default interest (judgment of 28 February 2018, Nidera, C‑387/16, EU:C:2018:121, paragraph 25 and the case-law cited).
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