Brussels, 26/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 26 November, the European Commission decided to bring three member states before the Court of Justice of the EU over infringements of the tax rules.
Ireland. Ireland has been brought before the court as it is not correctly applying the EU rules on the fiscal marking of fuels. The Commission sent the country a reasoned opinion in April, calling on it to change its legislation to ensure that private leisure vessels are not able to buy fuel at lower rates of tax, intended for fishing vessels. The EU regulation on the fiscal marking of fuels states that fuel which may benefit from a reduced rate of taxation must be marked with dye. Private vessels must use fuel which is subject to normal rates of taxation. Ireland has infringed EU legislation by allowing them to use marked fuel.
Greece. Greece goes up before the Court as it has not changed its tax legislation on the registration of vehicles rented or leased to Greek residents by suppliers not established in Greece, following a reasoned opinion in November 2012. This legislation provides that if a client residing in Greece hires or leases a vehicle from a provider located in a different member state, the registration tax must be paid in full in Greece, although the country is supposed to levy tax only in relation to the period of time for which the vehicle is used. The Greek legislation could therefore have a deterrent effect on cross-border activities, in violation of the principle of the free movement of services stipulated by the treaties.
Spain has been referred to the Court over the discriminatory fiscal treatment it reserves for investments on certain foreign securities and the failure of its legislation to comply with EU law as regards the taxation of investments in non-resident companies.
In the first of the Spanish cases, the Court has been involved following a reasoned opinion sent to Spain in February 2013, calling on it to change its rules on inheritance and gift tax applicable in the Territorios Históricos de Alava y Bizkaia. Under these rules, government debt bonds issued by the local governments are taxed at a lower rate than other similar securities in the framework of inheritance. This fiscal treatment constitutes discrimination against investments in government debt bonds issued by other countries of the European Economic Area.
In the second, the matter was referred to the Court following a reasoned opinion sent in June 2013, calling on Spain to change its discriminatory taxation of investments in non-resident companies. Dividends distributed by non-resident companies to Spanish companies are subjected to more restrictive fiscal treatment than those distributed by Spanish companies, which constitutes an obstacle to the free movement of capital. In this way, a Spanish company investing in a foreign company has to comply with more restrictive conditions (volume of revenue, level of shareholder participation) in order to be able to benefit from tax breaks. In other cases, the tax advantage provided for the dividends distributed by Spanish companies is not available to those distributed by non-resident companies. (EL)