Tax Treaty Case Law around the Globe 2013

S. 291 Spain: Taxation of activities related to U2 concerts

Jacques Sasseville

1. S. 293 Introduction

This article deals with the decision of Spain’s Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo) in the case of Stage Entertainment S.L.

In the decision, the Supreme Court accepted the appeal of the tax administration and reversed the 2010 decision of the National Tribunal (Audiencia Nacional). The National Tribunal had held in favour of the taxpayer, thereby reversing the 2007 decision of the Central Administrative Tribunal (Tribunal Económico-Administrativo Central) and the 2004 decision of the Madrid Regional Administrative Tribunal (TribunalEconómico- Administrativo Regional de Madrid).

The decision of the National Tribunal was presented and discussed at the 2011 Conference on Tax Treaty Case Law. In an article prepared for that conference to which this article makes a number of references, Adolfo Martín Jiménez commented extensively on that decision.

2. Facts of the case

The case deals with payments made by a Spanish promoter to two Irish companies in respect of concerts which the band, U2 gave in Spain (in Barcelona and Madrid) in 1997.

At the time of the concerts, the Spanish promoter’s name was Rock & Pop E...