On Thursday 25 July, the European Commission decided to refer Belgium to the Court of Justice of the European Union (INFR(2015)4212) for maintaining discriminatory conditions for the application of the tax exemption to remuneration received on savings deposits.
The Commission considers that the Belgian tax exemption system applicable to income from savings deposits imposes discriminatory conditions of access to the Belgian banking market on service providers established in other Member States of the EU or the European Economic Area and that it is therefore contrary to the freedom to provide services under Article 56 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) and Article 36 of the Agreement on the European Economic Area.
The Court of Justice of the EU confirmed the violation of the aforementioned freedom by the Belgian law on 8 June 2017 and on 27 March 2023 following preliminary rulings. The Commission sent a reasoned opinion in July 2023 to Belgium. However, the Commission considers that efforts by the authorities have, to date, been insufficient. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)