State Aid Law Blog

State Aid Uncovered Blog

In Lexxion’s State Aid Uncovered blog, Prof. Phedon Nicolaides publishes weekly critical analyses of recent State aid judgments and decisions. Each post presents the key points of a court judgment or EU Commission decision, places it in the context of similar case law or practice, assesses the underlying reasoning and highlights any inconsistencies or contradictions.

Guest contributions from other State aid experts will also be published on the blog at irregular intervals to complement the content of the blog posts.

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- Luxembourg v European Commission ×

Member States Have Discretion to Determine their Own Tax System and Interpret its Provisions

Introduction In the landmark cases on turnover taxes implemented by Hungary and Poland, the Court of Justice censured the European Commission for defining its own hypothetical reference tax system that was different from the relevant tax provisions in those two countries. The Court again faulted the Commission in its more recent judgments on advance tax rulings. Given the discretion of […]

Amazon and the Difficulty of Finding a Comparable Tax Payer

To apply the Arm’s Length Principle to transactions between two related companies, the Commission must identify the less complex company of the two and compare it to a similar independent company. Methodological errors in the application of the Arm’s Length Principle by national authorities does not necessarily prove the existence of advantage. Introduction On 12 May 2021 the Commission suffered […]

- Luxembourg v European Commission ×

Member States Have Discretion to Determine their Own Tax System and Interpret its Provisions

Introduction In the landmark cases on turnover taxes implemented by Hungary and Poland, the Court of Justice censured the European Commission for defining its own hypothetical reference tax system that was different from the relevant tax provisions in those two countries. The Court again faulted the Commission in its more recent judgments on advance tax rulings. Given the discretion of […]

Amazon and the Difficulty of Finding a Comparable Tax Payer

To apply the Arm’s Length Principle to transactions between two related companies, the Commission must identify the less complex company of the two and compare it to a similar independent company. Methodological errors in the application of the Arm’s Length Principle by national authorities does not necessarily prove the existence of advantage. Introduction On 12 May 2021 the Commission suffered […]

- Luxembourg v European Commission ×

Member States Have Discretion to Determine their Own Tax System and Interpret its Provisions

Introduction In the landmark cases on turnover taxes implemented by Hungary and Poland, the Court of Justice censured the European Commission for defining its own hypothetical reference tax system that was different from the relevant tax provisions in those two countries. The Court again faulted the Commission in its more recent judgments on advance tax rulings. Given the discretion of […]

Amazon and the Difficulty of Finding a Comparable Tax Payer

To apply the Arm’s Length Principle to transactions between two related companies, the Commission must identify the less complex company of the two and compare it to a similar independent company. Methodological errors in the application of the Arm’s Length Principle by national authorities does not necessarily prove the existence of advantage. Introduction On 12 May 2021 the Commission suffered […]

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