Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:1998:308
Date: 1998-06-18
Language of the case: Italian
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Taxation;Indirect taxation
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Italy

Summary of the Judgment
Tax provisions — Harmonisation of laws — Indirect taxes on the raising of capital — Directive
69/335 — Capital duty and tax having the same characteristics as such a duty — Concept — Tax
on companies' net assets — Excluded
(Council Directive 69/335, Arts 4 and 10(a) and (b))
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SUMMARY — CASE C-4/97
Directive 69/335 concerning indirect taxes on
the raising of capital, as amended by Direc­
tive 85/303, does not preclude the levying on
capital companies of a tax on companies' net
assets.
Since, unlike capital duty on capital-raising
transactions, such a tax does not presuppose
any transaction involving the movement of
capital or assets and has as its tax base, in
addition to the subscribed capital, the sum of
several accounting items, it is neither a capital
duty nor a tax having the same characteristics
as such a duty.
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