CJEU – Recent Developments in Direct Taxation 2016

1. S. 200Introduction

The year of 2016 has been marked by several political earthquakes. The Brexit referendum, which took place in June, has changed the future narrative of the Single Market. The ultimate legal consequences of this decision will crystallise in the next few years. However, if politicians will steer negotiations towards the limitation of the supreme status of European Union (EU) law in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) and, as a consequence, the authority of the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereafter “the CJEU” or “the Court”) will be restrained, one potential implication is quite predictable: as time goes by and the transitional period runs out, the appetite of UK courts and litigants for seeking preliminary rulings from Luxembourg will be shrinking. This chapter has been written in the first post-referendum months when the Brexit shock has not yet caused any visible changes in the dynamics of judicial activities. And yet, the Brexit theme will be frequently reoccurring in this analysis as the leave vote has shaken up pending references by putting a question mark on their precedent-setting value.

This chapter covers three tax cases wh...