CELEX: 62015CN0244
Language: en
Date: 2015-05-27 00:00:00
Title: Case C-244/15: Action brought on 27 May 2015 — European Commission v Hellenic Republic

3.8.2015   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 254/10
            
         Action brought on 27 May 2015 — European Commission v Hellenic Republic
   (Case C-244/15)
   (2015/C 254/13)
   Language of the case: Greek
   
      Parties
   
   
      Applicant: European Commission (represented by: D. Τriantafyllou and W. Roels, acting as Agents)
   
      Defendant: Hellenic Republic
   
      Form of order sought
   
   The applicant claims that the Court should:
   
               —
            
            
               Declare that the Hellenic Republic, by enacting and maintaining in force legislation which provides for exemption from inheritance tax on the first place of residence, which gives rise to discrimination because it applies only to EU nationals who reside in Greece, has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 63 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 40 of the EEA Agreement;
            
         
               —
            
            
               order the Hellenic Republic to pay the costs.
            
         
      Pleas in law and main arguments
   
   
               1.
            
            
               The different tax treatment of non-property owning residents in Greece (who are exempted from inheritance tax) and persons who are not resident in Greece, with respect to the first immoveable property which they acquire by inheritance, is an unjustified restriction on free movement of capital within the meaning of Article 63 TFEU (see also Article 65 TFEU).
            
         
               2.
            
            
               The different tax treatment of residents in Greece and non-residents constitutes unjustified different treatment of comparable situations, in so far as non-residents can move to Greece, when they will be in the same situation as those who are already resident in Greece, and in so far as the exemption is not related to personal occupancy of the inherited immoveable property, and consequently the place where a person is resident cannot be the criterion for the granting of the tax exemption. The place of residence conceals the criterion of nationality, since residents in Greece will predominantly be Greeks and the converse is the case.
            
         
               3.
            
            
               The distinction in question, which is not related to personal occupancy, cannot be justified by considerations of social policy or by the need to protect public revenue.