Brussels, 16/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 16 June, the European Commission took a series of decisions relating to various countries which have committed infringements in taxation matters.
It is bringing the Netherlands before the Court of Justice of the EU, over the country's application of the specific so-called “margin” regime not only to travel agencies which sell package holidays to travellers, as provided for by the VAT directive, but also to travel agents or agencies which sell package holidays to other travel agencies, in violation of the directive. The Commission sent the Netherlands a reasoned opinion in February 2008, but the Dutch authorities have not yet brought their legislation into line with the said directive, despite having pledged to do so by 1 April of this year.
It is also sending reasoned opinions to: - Hungary, whose tax law has not, since 1 January 2008, allowed anyone taking out hire-purchase on vehicles for tourism to deduct the VAT invoiced by the leaser, contrary to the provisions of the VAT directive. The Hungarian provision was brought in after the country joined the EU, making it against EU rules; - Poland, which allows investment funds or pension funds established outside the country to enjoy a corporate tax exemption only under certain conditions, which do not apply to Polish funds. This constitutes discrimination and runs counter to European legislation; - Estonia, which is also guilty of discrimination, as it gives a tax exoneration on real estate revenue to national investment funds, which is not available to similar investment funds established elsewhere in the EEA. The higher charges to be paid by the latter make them less attractive to investors and restrict the freedom to provide services and the free movement of capital, - the Netherlands, whose legislation requires all companies forming a “single taxable unit” (all entities of a group subject to tax are considered to be the same entity, allowing the tax to be calculated on a consolidated base) to be resident in the Netherlands. This rule prevents a single taxable unit from being created between two Dutch subsidiaries of a single group owned by a foreign parent, which is against European law. In all of these cases, the national authorities have two months to give the Commission a satisfactory response, otherwise the matters will be brought before the Court.
The Commission has also closed the procedure it opened in March 2010 against Ireland, which has cancelled the discriminatory elements of its tax on air passenger transport implemented in 2009. This tax, which varies in level depending on how far the destinations were from Dublin airport, penalised international flights to the benefit of internal flights. (F.G./transl.fl)