Brussels, 15/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday the European Commission decided to send an official warning to the Netherlands, Italy and France for not having communicated or taken measures to comply with the decisions of the Court of Justice.
Netherlands. On 8 November 2001, the Court passed a judgement against Dutch legislation that allows a taxable person for VAT purposes to deduct a percentage from the allowance covering all expenses for a car when an employee uses their private vehicle for business purposes and the employer pays them a compensatory allowance. The Court found that in so far as this deduction is made in cases where the taxable person is not the recipient of the transaction, the Netherlands had failed to satisfy the provisions of the sixth directive, which provides for deduction only in cases where the goods and services are rendered to the taxable person.
Italy. In 1993 Italy did not reimburse taxable persons in the form of tax credits but decided to issue treasury certificates, staggered over time, to taxable persons as repayment of their VAT credits. On 25 October 2001 the Court of Justice ruled that such a practice went against the provisions of the of the Sixth VAT Directive, which lays down that refunds must be made immediately or deferred only once over the period of the taxable person's next declaration.
France. France applies a minimum price system for all cigarettes sold under the same brand, and also levies more advantageous differentiated taxes on cigarettes made from dark tobacco compared to those of light tobacco. On 27 February 200, the Court found that the French system contravened both Directives, which lay down that manufacturers and importers may freely set the selling prices of manufactured tobaccos. It also infringed Article 90 of the Treaty, which prohibits any fiscal discrimination between similar products to the detriment of products of other Member States (almost all the cigarettes made from dark tobacco sold in France are locally manufactured, while light cigarettes are mostly imported).