Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2019:492
Date: 2019-06-13
Language of the case: Hungarian
Subject matter: State aids;Competition;Right of establishment;Taxation;Value added tax
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling;Reference for a preliminary ruling - inadmissible
Origin: Hungary

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Fővárosi Közigazgatási és Munkaügyi Bíróság (Hungary) lodged on 6 February 2018 — Vodafone Magyarország Mobil Távközlési Zrt. v Nemzeti Adó- és Vámhivatal Fellebbviteli Igazgatósága (Case C-75/18) Language of the case: Hungarian Referring court Fővárosi Közigazgatási és Munkaügyi Bíróság Parties to the main proceedings Applicant: Vodafone Magyarország Mobil Távközlési Zrt. Defendant: Nemzeti Adó- és Vámhivatal Fellebbviteli Igazgatósága Questions referred Must the provisions of Articles 49, 54, 107 and 108 TFEU be interpreted as precluding a national measure pursuant to which a Member State’s legislation (Law establishing liability to a special tax on telecommunications) has the effect that the actual tax burden falls on foreign-owned taxable persons? Is that effect indirectly discriminatory? Do Articles 107 and 108 TFEU preclude a Member State’s legislation imposing a tax liability on turnover calculated on the basis of a progressive tax rate? If the effect of that legislation is that the actual tax burden, for the highest tax band, falls mainly on foreign-owned taxable persons, is that legislation indirectly discriminatory? Does that effect amount to prohibited State aid? Must Article 401 of the VAT Directive 1 be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State that gives rise to a distinction between foreign-owned taxable persons and national taxable persons? Must the special tax be considered a tax on turnover? In other words, is this tax compatible or not with the VAT Directive? ____________ 1 Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1).