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ARTICLE · 20 DECEMBER 2018

The Santander Autogrill Case: The End Of Round 1

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Simply put, at present we have an EU legal framework that identifies any distinction in a tax system as being potentially illegal state aid.

LuxembourgFinance and Banking
Keith O'Donnell
Keith O'Donnell
Oliver R. Hoor
Oliver R. Hoor

What do a bank and a duty free shopping group have in common? Answer: they both invested abroad. 

In itself, hardly noteworthy, but in this case, these 2 Spanish companies benefitted from a specific Spanish tax provision allowing the tax write off of goodwill on acquisitions of foreign subsidiaries. The EU Commission challenged this on the basis that it constituted illegal State Aid and litigation ensued. The procedure started in October 2007 and has been running ever since. A General Court ("GC", the lower European court) decision in November 2014 that was taxpayer and Member State-friendly was overturned today by the European Court of Justice (ECJ, the supreme European court).

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