CJEU - Recent Developments in Direct Taxation 2020

S. 1001. Introduction

On 27 February 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereinafter “CJEU” or “the Court”) delivered the judgement in a case that has already been discussed at the “Recent and Pending Cases at the Court of Justice of the European Union on Direct Taxation” conference in 2018 when the reference for a preliminary ruling was made by the referring court (Supreme Administrative Court, Czech Republic). The request has been made in proceedings between AURES Holdings a.s. and the Appellate Tax Directorate (Odvolací finanční ředitelství), Czech Republic.

Multinational enterprises have sought for the last fifteen years, after the judgment of the Grand Chamber in Marks & Spencer was delivered, to extend its principle to other situations in order to generally try to benefit from cross-border group relief. AURES Holdings case is one of the latest attempts to do so (even if it is not concerning a group in fact, it concerns taxation of a single entity).

The aim of this chapter is to inform about the relevant facts and circumstances of the case which concerned the freedom of establishment and a denied loss-relief claim in the Czech Republic with respect to losses incurred by A...