Case C‑667/17

Francesca Cadeddu

v

Agenzia delle Entrate — Direzione provinciale di Cagliari and Others

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Commissione tributaria provinciale di Cagliari)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 — Article 2(4) — Concept of beneficiary — Article 80 — Prohibition on making a deduction or withholding sums paid — Other specific charge or charge with equivalent effect — Concept — Study grant co-financed by the European Social Fund — Treatment as income from employment — Retention on account of income tax increased by additional regional and municipal taxes)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber), 19 December 2018

Economic, social and territorial cohesion — Structural assistance — European Union funding — Regulation No 1083/2006 — Grant of financial aid — Prohibition on making a deduction or withholding sums paid to the beneficiary — Scope — National legislation making study grants co-financed by the European Social Fund subject to income tax — Lawfulness

(Council Regulation No 1083/2006, Arts 2(3) and (4) and 80)

Article 80 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1260/1999, read in conjunction with Article 2(4) of that regulation, must be interpreted as not precluding national tax legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which applies personal income tax to the amounts awarded to natural persons in the form of study grants by the public body responsible for implementing the project selected by the managing authority for the operational programme at issue, for the purposes of Article 2(3) of that regulation, and financed through the European structural funds.

Unlike other regulations which, by using the terms ‘final beneficiary’, refer to the natural or legal person who is the recipient of the amounts awarded, Article 2(4) of Regulation No 1083/2006 expressly defines the ‘beneficiary’ as ‘an operator, body or firm, whether public or private, responsible for initiating or initiating and implementing operations’. In accordance with Article 2(3) of that regulation, the term ‘operations’ is defined as ‘a project or group of projects selected by the managing authority of the operational programme concerned … and implemented by one or more beneficiaries allowing achievement of the goals of the priority axis to which it relates’. Consequently, the payment in full of assistance provided for by Article 80 of Regulation No 1083/2006 covers payments made to operators, bodies or firms, responsible for initiating or initiating and implementing operations selected by the managing authority of the operational programme concerned in order to achieve the goals of the priority axis to which it relates. It follows that the applicant in the main proceedings, who was admittedly the personal recipient of the amounts awarded in the context of the project selected and co-financed by the ESF, cannot be classified as a ‘beneficiary’ for the purposes of Article 2(4) of Regulation No 1083/2006, since the Autonomous Region of Sardinia — regional employment office has that status. Therefore, the principle of payment in full of the amounts awarded from the EU budget, provided for in Article 80 of Regulation No 1083/2006, applies to the latter.

(see paras 22-24, 26, 27, operative part)