CJEU - Recent Developments in Direct Taxation 2020

S. 2161. Introduction

On 8 October 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) released the judgment on the case C-558/19 Impresa Pizzarotti & C SPA Italia Sucursala Cluj v. Agenţia Naţională de Administrare Fiscală – Direcţia Generală de Administrare a Marilor Contribuabili (“the Case” or “C-558/19”). The Case concerns a request for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) from the Romanian Regional Court in Cluj.

The Romanian Court has raised its concerns on whether the right of establishment or the free movement of capital are restricted, since transfers of values/financial resources between a branch established in Romania and a non-resident parent company would be subject to more onerous conditions than the domestic same type of transfers. In this latter case, the strict requirements and adjustments under transfer pricing rules would not apply and thus interest would not be deemed to arise at the branch level.

2. The Dispute in the main proceedings

2.1. Factual Background

The factual background of the dispute under the main proceedings is described under paragraphs 6 to 13 of the Case. We learn that SC Impresa Pizzarotti & C...