European State Aid And Tax Rulings

This book investigates whether the European Commission (EC) has the mandate to legislate on direct taxation in sovereign states and ultimately questions whether the EC’s enforcement action in recent tax ruling cases, in the area of state aid, respects the rule of law.

New Perspectives on Fiscal State Aid Legitimacy and Effectiveness of Fiscal State Aid Control Edited by Carla De Pietro Based on a project co-funded by the European Commission, this book focuses on fiscal state aid – an increasingly important topic – with a number of high-profile cases ongoing and with serious implications for sustainable growth and the future of the internal market. The project, conducted by four universities, consisted in seminars, workshops and a final conference aimed at training national tax judges from the four different countries involved (Austria, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands), with discussion and reflection by international academics and other tax professionals who participated as speakers and/or discussants. This book presents an in-depth analysis of the topics the project dealt with, taking a giant step towards defining the connection between effective state aid control, its legitimacy and a desirable functioning of the internal market for the twenty-first century. The core elements of this fundamental analysis include the following: selectivity as applied in the case law of the Court of Justice; whether and to what extent state aid law limits European Union (EU) Member States in designing anti-tax avoidance measures; protection of legitimate expectations; to what extent national judges are required to apply state aid rules ex officio; powers of national judges in connection with the national obligation of guaranteeing an immediate and effective recovery on the basis of an order issued by the European Commission; and connection between legitimacy of state aid law and effectiveness of state aid control. The book includes a thorough investigation of the notion of fiscal state aid, also by focusing on the most recent decisions of the European Commission concerning mismatches. Representing, as it does, an important and concrete contribution to the intense debate about the interpretation of the notion of fiscal state aid, with different normative views about the goals and functions of control, this book will stimulate solutions in terms of legitimacy of fiscal state aid control that also take into consideration the most desirable functioning of the internal market. It will be welcomed not only by academics in taxation and EU law but also by national tax judges, tax authorities and practitioners.

This book is a compilation of contributions exploring the impact of the European Treaty provisions regarding state aid on Member States’ legislation and administrative practice in the area of business taxation. Starting from a detailed analysis of the European Courts’ jurisprudence on Art.107 TFEU the authors lay out fundamental issues – e.g. on legal concepts like “advantage”, “selectivity” and “discrimination” – and explore current problems – in particular policy and practice regarding “harmful” tax competition within the European Union. This includes the Member States’ Code of Conduct on business taxation, the limits to anti-avoidance legislation and the options for legislation on patent boxes. The European Commission’s recent findings on preferential “rulings” are discussed as well as the general relationship between international tax law, transfer pricing standards and the European prohibition on selective fiscal aids.

This book provides clear guidance on what constitutes State Aid in the area of tax law. It clearly explains the situations in which beneficial tax provisions for the taxpayer – e.g., lower tax rates for certain industries or for certain economic zones, advantageous depreciation rules, or exemptions – can be declared void by the European Commission. The difficult controlling concept of ‘selectivity’ of an aid is dealt with extensively. Drawing on familiarity with the practice of the Commission, as well as the jurisprudence of the General Court and of the Court of Justice, thirteen knowledgeable contributors present valuable arguments in case the Commission requires the repayment of advantages received. Among the topics and issues covered are the following: how unregulated tax incentive competition between States leads to a ‘win’ by one State and a ‘loss’ by another; the legal uncertainty attached to the Commission’s decision following notification of a proposed tax incentive; the role of the Commission’s Code of Conduct; calculating the amount of recovery of illegal State Aid; application of State Aid rules in the area of indirect taxation (e.g., VAT and excise duties); investment fund regimes; subnational regional aid; ‘patent box’ regimes; foreign source income; and taxpayers’ exclusion from infringement proceedings and subsequent appeals. Complete with case studies and analyses of the latest case law on selectivity, this invaluable resource will be welcomed by practitioners who, although they may be well-versed in tax law, are sure to benefit greatly from the authors’ expert guidance on State Aid provisions and the rules on harmful tax competition.

This revised and updated Research Handbook on European State Aid Law brings together established academics and practitioners to provide a wide-ranging coverage of the field. Incorporating political science, economics and the law in its analysis, it provides a strong overview of the salient issues in State aid law and policy.

Rules controlling State aid and subsidies on the EU and the WTO level can have a decisive influence on both regulatory and distributive decision-making. This field of law has grown exponentially in importance and complexity over the past decades. Rules on State aid and subsidies control are one of the key instruments to ensure that public spending and regulatory measures do not lead to discriminatory distortions of competition. As a consequence, hardly any part of national law is free from review under criteria of State aid and subsidy regulation. In turn, State aid and subsidies law is linked to economic, constitutional, administrative law of the EU and the Member States as well as to public international law. This book brings together leading experts from academia, the judiciary, civil servants from the European Commission, and practising lawyers to provide expert opinion and commentary on the diverse dimensions of the complex and vital area of law. Critically analysing and explaining developments and current approaches in State aid law and subsidies, the chapters take into account not only the legal dimensions but also the economic and political implications. They address the EU law applicable to State aid in the aftermath of the recent State Modernisation reform, and coverage includes: an in-depth analysis of the notion of State aid as interpreted by the Court's cases-law and the Commission's practice; the rules on compatibility of State aid with the internal market; the rules governing the procedure before the Commission; the litigation before the Court of Justice of the European Union; and analysis of the other trade defence instruments, including WTO subsidy law and EU anti-subsidy law.

This book analyzes the issue of European fiscal State aid in order to provide insights into the related evolution prospects and legal problems. State aid has assumed a central position in the field of taxation, becoming the most important instrument of European legal integration, especially in the area of direct taxes. This is the result of major regulatory and interpretative development, which has altered the initial European and national balances in the face of globalization and the problems of the new economy. In this context, the scope and objectives of State aid have progressively broadened, encompassing a significant level of both positive and negative integration of European national tax systems.