41In that regard, it must be noted that, although it follows from the wording of Articles 213 and 214 of the VAT Directive that Member States have a certain discretion when they adopt measures to ensure the identification of taxable persons for the purposes of VAT, that discretion cannot be unrestricted, so that a Member State cannot refuse to assign an individual number to a taxable person without legitimate grounds (see, to that effect, judgment of 14 March 2013, Ablessio, C‑527/11, EU:C:2013:168, paragraphs 22 and 23). In particular, although Member States have a legitimate interest in taking appropriate steps to protect their financial interests and that the prevention of tax evasion, avoidance and abuse, and although they can legitimately take measures, in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 273 of the VAT Directive, that are necessary to prevent the misuse of identification numbers, in particular by undertakings whose activity, and consequently their status as taxable persons, is purely fictitious, those measures must not go beyond what is necessary for the correct collection of the tax and the prevention of evasion, and they must not systematically undermine the right to deduct VAT, and hence the neutrality of that tax (see, to that effect, judgment of 14 March 2013, Ablessio, C‑527/11, EU:C:2013:168, paragraphs 28 and 30).
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