The French Supreme Administrative Court (Conseil d’Etat) rules on the validity of commissionaire schemesWith the much-awaited Zimmer ruling that was finally delivered on 31 March, the Conseil d’Etat...
IntroductionAfter few years of hesitation the French Tax authorities have issued a specific regulation on Transfer Pricing documentation which makes mandatory for big multinational enterprises to...
The content of the reform of VAT rules on the territoriality of services is now clear. This reform will apply to all EU Member States. The reform will take effect on 1 January 2010. Numerous...
1. Scope of the documentation obligation: This obligation shall be applicable to transactions performed during the financial years starting as from 1 January 2010 and shall target companies based in...
The delicate issue of the deduction of VAT on transaction costs of sale of shares still seems far from being settled. Taxpayers and lawyers await with interest the ECJ decision on the AB SKF case, on...
In December 2008, the Council of the European Union adopted: - directive 2008/117/EC and regulation 37/2009 intended to combat tax evasion by making it easier to exchange information on...
ZIMMER – the French Supreme Administrative Court returns its verdict: the future is still bright for commissionaires…
March 31 2010
The French Supreme Administrative Court (Conseil d’Etat) rules on the validity of commissionaire schemesWith the much-awaited Zimmer ruling that was finally delivered on 31 March, the Conseil d’Etat h
French 2009 Corrected Finance Bill includes a documentation obligation with regard to transfer pricing
December 22 2009
IntroductionAfter few years of hesitation the French Tax authorities have issued a specific regulation on Transfer Pricing documentation which makes mandatory for big multinational enterprises to prep
The content of the reform of VAT rules on the territoriality of services is now clear. This reform will apply to all EU Member States. The reform will take effect on 1 January 2010. Numerous companies
Draft bill and directive on Article L. 13 AA of the tax procedure code
April 27 2009
1. Scope of the documentation obligation: This obligation shall be applicable to transactions performed during the financial years starting as from 1 January 2010 and shall target companies based in F
Comments on the Opinion of Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi in Case C – 29/08 AB SKF
March 06 2009
The delicate issue of the deduction of VAT on transaction costs of sale of shares still seems far from being settled. Taxpayers and lawyers await with interest the ECJ decision on the AB SKF case, on
January 2009. European actions to combat VAT fraud
January 29 2009
In December 2008, the Council of the European Union adopted: - directive 2008/117/EC and regulation 37/2009 intended to combat tax evasion by making it easier to exchange information on cr
Three amendments to the Finance Bill for 2009 related to SIICs have been drafted by Senator Philippe Marini last Wednesday for the Finance Commission of the Senate. Subject to any change – which remai
European court judges have finally got the better of the French annual tax on real property (commonly called the “3% tax”), as the text providing for its application was drafted prior to 2008, which h
The reform of the rights of deduction for the purposes of VAT is effective as from January 1, 2008
February 06 2008
We have previously described the purposes of this reform and looked at its implementation for companies already recovering 100% of their VAT and other entities (banks and financial institutions, insur
The Addendum to the French – Luxembourg tax treaty has just been ratified today by the French Parliament. On its side, Luxembourg published a law transposing the said Addendum last December 7. The pro
The French Parliament adopted last night an amendment to the Amended Finance Bill for 2007 aiming at reforming the French 3% annual tax. As we announced in our tax alert dated November 13, the 3% annu
French Finance Bill for 2008: 'Tax pack' for Real Estate
November 26 2007
Today, Senator Marini lodged amendments to the Finance Bill for 2008 and proposed important changes for the French property market. Most of them were adopted by the government. In principle, these mea
Luxembourg will exempt 80% of royalty income as from January 2008
November 19 2007
Scope By introducing a partial exemption regime for income generated through IP, the Luxembourg government intends both to encourage research activities in Luxembourg and to increase the attractivenes
In a decision of October 11, 2007 (in the "Elisa" case), the ECJ held that the existence of an additional condition to be met by non-residents as compared with French residents in order to be able to
A case, known as the Elisa case, was brought before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the basis of a prejudicial question by the French Supreme Court. The ECJ confirms the arbitrary character of
The new French government decides to strengthen the French capital gains tax on real estate predominant companies
September 26 2007
In an unexpected provision of the Draft Finance Act for 2008, presented this morning, the new Government Fillon has decided to align the capital gains tax due by companies subject to corporate income
Luxembourg taxes investments in French société civile immobilière
September 24 2007
Keith O'Donnell of Atoz and Franck Llinas of Arsene -Taxand examine the impact of a ruling which allows Luxembourg to seek revenue from French real estate structures. Due to their common past, Lu
Alongside the transfer pricing regulations, the amended German Finance Act for 2008 has introduced a specific provision providing for the systematic taxation of crossborder transfers of functions betw
An in-depth reform of the French research tax credit
September 12 2007
The French government has just announced a large-scale reform of the research tax credit. This reform should put into place an attractive tax regime, allowing international groups to keep or to locate
The end of the tax treaty between France and Denmark !
July 10 2007
After Luxembourg, the tax treaty between France and Denmark should be modified soon. Indeed, the Danish government has announced on June 27 that a majority of the parties of the Danish Parliament had
French reform of VAT deduction conditions by Alain Recoules
May 18 2007
The decree of April 16, 2007 (n° 2007-566), whose provisions come into force on January 1, 2008, change the VAT deduction conditions mentioned in appendix II to the General Tax Code. The provisions of
A few reasons to challenge the social solidarity contribution for companies in light of the first VAT Directive by Alain Recoules
April 27 2007
A number of French companies have recently brought legal action to contest the compatibility of the social solidarity contribution for companies solely on the basis of the First VAT directive prohibit
Time is money: the précompte mobilier paid will soon be refunded (with default interest) ?
March 09 2007
The first protests and legal proceedings regarding the incompatibility of the avoir fiscal (special French tax credit on dividends) and the précompte (special French equalization tax on dividends) wit
The transfer pricing issues facing international groups traditionally concern the terms and conditions of sale of a product or supply of a service. More and more often, they also concern the licensing
The Senator Philippe Marini introduced an amendment to the modified Finance Act for 2006 providing for an extension of the favourable tax regime of Article 210 E of the French tax code, so-called « SI
Recasting of the 6th Directive: direct and collateral effects
December 15 2006
On November 28, 2006, at the Eurofin Council meeting, the Council of the European Union adopted Directive 2006/112/EC (published in the Official Journal of the European Union L/2006/347/1). The purpos
The 2006 finance bill is currently under discussion before the French Senate. Senator Marini has just presented a draft amendment containing several provisions on the legislation applicable to SIIC co
The decision with regard to Irap has just been issued by the ECJ. The ECJ does not consider that Irap has characteristics similar to those of VAT, in the sense of Article 33 of the Sixth VAT directive
As we mentioned in the two previous editions of ‘VAT focus’, the amended Finance Bill (LFR) for 2005 extended the scope of the VAT reverse charge mechanism. Now it is no longer the supplier, not estab
On Thursday, March 17, 2005, Roland Schneider gave a presentation entitled "International acquisitions: what are the critical tax issues?" Click here for a copy of the presentation given by Roland Sch
The new method of managing business tax in restructuring operations
August 24 2006
The big day of the business tax reform in France has not yet come. By extending the effect of tax exemption for new investments made in 2004 and 2005 until December 31, 2007, the French government has
August 2, 2006: Amendment to the France/Luxembourg tax treaty
August 10 2006
The Luxembourg tax authorities (Administration des contributions directes) have just announced on their website that a second amendment to the France-Luxembourg Tax Treaty of April 1, 1958 was signed
French public authorities and corporate investors have rediscovered the listed real estate sector. Modeled on the big US REITs, France initially adapted the special regime to allow listed real estate
Collective management and VAT: European harmonization in sight?
August 08 2006
The Abbey National decision (C-169/04) of May 4, 2006 was much-awaited by players in the asset management sector in Europe. This decision in fact defined, for the first time since the 6th VAT Directiv
A year after the introduction into France of the tax consolidation regime, the lawmaker used the amended 1988 Finance Bill, under the auspices of the Minister for the Budget at the time, to “retroacti
The compatibility of local taxes in the light of the common VAT system
July 09 2006
Reflections concerning the Italian regional tax (IRAP) which has been challenged before the European Court of Justice (1). This case, which should be heard by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in th
We attach our new issue of VAT Focus. As agreed, and as previously announced, we report further on the simplifications of the reverse charge mechanism and the issuing of amended invoices with regard t
1.1 Outsourcing: a Way of Optimisation In its Opinion on the Commission’s Green Paper on Financial Services Policy (2005-2010) COM(2005) 177 final, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) st
Investment real estate: adapting depreciation strategy to the new rules laid down by the French tax authoriti
January 09 2006
The new tax rules with regard to depreciation of assets, which came into force from January 1, 2005 onwards, signal the beginning of a new era for real estate companies with regard to the depreciation
For the last three years, we have become used to reforms being made in quite major areas of taxation of the real estate sector under the impetus of Senator Philippe Marini, general rapporteur of the F
Partial contribution of assets subject to standard tax treatment: why is the loss related to non tax-deductible provisions deductible for the contributor? In the scope of partial contributions of asse
The UK government announced on December 6, 2005 that it was going to introduce a specific tax regime for REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) in the UK comparable to the French SIIC regime that has b
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