ECJ - Recent Developments in Direct Taxation 2012

S. 147The Netherlands: Infringement Procedure on Tax Facilities in Respect of Country Estates situated in the Netherlands (IP/11/1425, Case No. 2008/2139)

S. 1491. Introduction

Who does not want to have a country estate? It becomes even more appealing when you get it for free, because of a donation, e.g., by a parent. Although the personal feelings will likely be quite different when one acquires it by inheritance, it will normally also be received without any compensation. It becomes even more appealing if the transfer of the country estate to the donee or heir is tax privileged. However, a disappointment may arise when the acquirer discovers that the tax privileges are not available in respect of a foreign country estate. Then, EU or EEA law may come into play to assess whether this field of law can remove this disappointment: the tax privileges are not only applicable to domestic country estates, but also to country estates situated in the European Union or European Economic Area.

In this paper, the author will discuss an infringement procedure involving Netherlands succession, gift, and transfer taxes. The European Commission builds its position on the Jäger case. It should be noted that the ...