Taxpayer - the unofficial sponsor of UEFA EURO 2012
Business & Law, 13 czerwca 2012 r.

Polish taxpayers may not realize that they are unofficial sponsors of the EURO 2012 tournament....

Tatu. Pollution tax on motor vehicles on their first registration

The Court of Justice ruled that Romanian legislation amounted to discrimination against imported second-hand cars. As the Court put it, Article 110 TFEU must be interpreted as precluding a Member State from introducing a pollution tax levied on motor vehicles on their first registration in that Member State if that tax is arranged in such a way that it discourages the placing in circulation in that Member State of second-hand vehicles purchased in other Member States without discouraging the purchase of second-hand vehicles of the same age and condition on the domestic market.

HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS ON EUROPEAN TAXATION July 2011

Elektrownia Pątnów. Conversion to equity of loans taken up by capital company before accession of Member State to European Union

The question referred by the Polish court to the ECJ, as to whether Poland should take into account pre-accession loans that had been taxed before Poland became obligated to comply with the acquis communautaire, in cases where a subsequent taxable increase in capital by the amount of such loans takes place after the accession, was answered in the affirmative. The ECJ ruled that the second indent of Article 5(3) of Directive 69/335 requires that, in determining the amount of capital duty chargeable on an increase in a company’s capital arising from the conversion into shares – following Poland’s accession to the European Union – of loans taken up by that company prior to that accession, account be taken of the previous taxation of those loans on the basis of the national law in force at the material time.

HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS ON EUROPEAN TAXATION February 2010/02

Filipiak. Restriction of ability to deduct social insurance contributions paid in another Member State not compatible with EC Treaty 

Mr. Krzysztof Filipiak, a Polish resident, carried on an economic activity in the Netherlands as a partner in a Dutch partnership. He paid obligatory social security and health insurance contributions in the Netherlands in respect of his income. When he wanted to reduce his tax liability in Poland by the amount of Dutch insurance contributions, the Polish tax authorities refused, pointing out that the amount of social security contributions could have been deducted from the assessment base and the tax payable in Poland could have been reduced by health insurance contributions if the taxpayer had paid the insurance contributions in Poland. Mr. Filipiak appealed. In the meantime, however, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal ruled that the discussed income tax regulations infringed the principles of equality and social justice embedded in the Polish Constitution. Nonetheless, using its competence to indicate the date on which unconstitutional regulations lose their binding force, the Tribunal deferred the loss of validity of the rules at issue until 30 November 2008. Uncertain as to the consequences of such a decision, the national court hearing the appeal requested a preliminary ruling from the ECJ. The ECJ ruled that Articles 43 and 49 EC Treaty preclude national legislation under which the right of a resident to reduce the basis of assessment by the amount of compulsory social security contributions and to reduce the amount of income tax by the amount of health insurance contributions is restricted to contributions paid pursuant to national law. In those circumstances, the primacy of Community law requires that Community law take precedence over conflicting national provisions, irrespective of the judgment of the national constitutional court which has deferred the date on which those provisions, held to be unconstitutional, are to lose their binding force. 

HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS ON EUROPEAN TAXATION February 2010/02

Rüffler. ECJ ruling on refusal to reduce Polish income tax by the amount of German health insurance contributions

Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny referred a question to the ECJ for a preliminary ruling (case C-544/07). The doubts expressed by the national court concerned compatibility with Community law of the provisions of the Polish income tax law which restricted the right to a reduction of income tax payable by a resident by the amount of compulsory health insurance contributions only with respect to contributions paid to the Polish insurance scheme. The court was uncertain whether, where a resident taxpayer is required to pay tax in Poland on pension received in Germany, it is justified to deny a reduction of that tax by the health insurance contributions solely because those contributions were not paid on the basis of Polish law and fell under the German insurance system. 

HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS ON EUROPEAN TAXATION June 2009/06

Elektrownia Pątnów. Polish case on capital duty referred to the ECJ

The Polish Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny requests for a preliminary ruling in the case Elektrownia Pątnów (C-441/08). In the light of Community law (in particular the provisions of Directive 69/335/EEC), are tax authorities obliged when charging capital duty on an increase in capital to take into account transactions relating to the same component of capital which were liable to a capital duty before the date of Poland's accession to the European Union?

HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS ON EUROPEAN TAXATION March/April 2009/03

Filipiak. C-314/08. Only deduction of compulsory social insurance Polish contributions. Reference for a preliminary ruling.

The doubts expressed by Wojewódzki Sąd Administracyjny regard compatibility with Community law of the provisions of the Polish income tax law which grant certain tax reliefs (exclusion for social security contributions and tax credit for health insurance contributions) to taxpayers who pay compulsory insurance contributions in Poland, if such reliefs are not available with respect to such contributions  paid in another EU Member State. 

HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS ON EUROPEAN TAXATION December 2008/02

Strojirny Prostejov and ACO Industries Tabor. Secondment of workers by an agency established in another Member State

The Court of Justice ruled that it was appropriate to consider the cases together and ruled, in response to the questions raised by the national courts, that Article 56 TFEU precludes legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, under which companies established in one Member State using workers employed and seconded by temporary employment agencies established in another Member State, but operating in the first Member State through a branch, are obliged to withhold tax and to pay to the first Member State an advance payment on the income tax due by those workers, whereas the same obligation is not imposed on companies established in the first Member State which use the services of temporary employment agencies established in that Member State.

HIGHLIGHTS & INSIGHTS ON EUROPEAN TAXATION September 2014