CJEU – Recent Developments in Direct Taxation 2016

1. S. 12Van der Weegen and Pot (C-580/15)

1.1. Introduction

On 9 November 2015, the court of first instance of Bruges submitted a request for a preliminary ruling to the CJEU regarding the compatibility of the Belgian regime for the taxation of interest on certain savings deposits with the freedom to provide services and the free movement of capital.

1.2. Background

1.2.1. Applicable legislation

Article 21, 5° of the Belgian Income Tax Code (hereafter “BITC”) provides that the first tranche of EUR 1,250 of interest on savings deposits does not qualify as taxable income, provided that a number of strict conditions are met. These conditions are set out in Article 2 of the Royal Decree implementing the BITC (hereafter “RD/BITC”).

Article 2 RD/BITC requires, first of all, that the deposit is denominated in euros. Moreover, withdrawals (either directly or through a transfer to a current account) are only possible for a number of exhaustively listed transactions and the bank is not allowed to charge debit interest on an overdrawn account. The bank should furthermore reserve the right to impose a notice period of five calendar days on withdrawals exceeding EUR 1,250 and to limit withdrawals to EUR 2,500 per fortnight. Finally, the return on the savings deposit consists of a basic interest rate and a loyalty premium.