Case C-340/22, Cofidis: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 21 December 2023 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Arbitral Tributário (Centro de Arbitragem Administrativa — CAAD) — Portugal) — Cofidis v Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira (Reference for a preliminary ruling — Direct taxation — Article 49 TFEU — Freedom of establishment — Introduction of a tax on the liabilities of credit institutions for the purpose of funding the national social security system — Alleged discrimination against branches of foreign credit institutions — Directive 2014/59/EU — Framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firms — Scope)
Date: 2023-12-21
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU banking union, Portugal, banking, branch, credit institution, national law, right of establishment, tax








C_202401378EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2024/1378


19.2.2024





Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 21 December 2023 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal Arbitral Tributário (Centro de Arbitragem Administrativa — CAAD) — Portugal) — Cofidis v Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira
(Case C-340/22, (1) Cofidis)
(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Direct taxation - Article 49 TFEU - Freedom of establishment - Introduction of a tax on the liabilities of credit institutions for the purpose of funding the national social security system - Alleged discrimination against branches of foreign credit institutions - Directive 2014/59/EU - Framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firms - Scope)
(C/2024/1378)
Language of the case: Portuguese

Referring court

Tribunal Arbitral Tributário (Centro de Arbitragem Administrativa — CAAD)

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: Cofidis

Defendant: Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Directive 2014/59/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 establishing a framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firms and amending Council Directive 82/891/EEC, and Directives 2001/24/EC, 2002/47/EC, 2004/25/EC, 2005/56/EC, 2007/36/EC, 2011/35/EU, 2012/30/EU and 2013/36/EU, and Regulations (EU) No 1093/2010 and (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, must be interpreted as not precluding a national law introducing a tax on the liabilities of credit institutions where the method of calculating that tax is allegedly similar to the method of calculating the contributions paid by such institutions under that directive but the revenue received from that tax is not allocated to national financing arrangements for resolution measures.










2.


The freedom of establishment guaranteed by Articles 49 and 54 TFEU must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State introducing a tax the basis of assessment for which is the liabilities of credit institutions that have their registered office in the territory of that Member State, and of subsidiaries and branches of credit institutions that have their registered office in the territory of another Member State, in so far as that legislation makes it possible to deduct own funds and debt instruments that are comparable to own funds, which cannot be issued by entities without legal personality, such as branches.






(1)  
            OJ C 359, 19.9.2022



ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/1378/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)