CELEX: C1999/100/04
Language: en
Date: 1999-04-10 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court of 26 January 1999 in Case C-18/95 (request for a preliminary ruling by the Gerechtshof te 's-Hertogenbosch): F. C. Terhoeve v. Inspecteur van de Belastingdienst Particulieren/Ondernemingen Buitenland (Freedom of movement for workers - Combined assessment covering income tax and social security contributions - Non-applicability to workers who transfer their residence from one Member State to another of a social contributions ceiling applicable to workers who have not exercised their right to freedom of movement - Possible offsetting by income tax advantages - Possible incompatibility with Community law - Consequences)

10.4.1999             EN                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                    C 100/3
2. Orders the Kingdom of Belgium to pay the costs.                       15 October 1968 on freedom of movement for
                                                                         workers within the Community may be relied on by a
                                                                         worker against the Member State of which he is a
(1) OJ C 228, 26.7.1997.                                                 national where he has resided and been employed in
                                                                         another Member State.
                                                                     2. Article 48 of the Treaty precludes a Member State
                                                                         from levying, on a worker who has transferred his
                                                                         residence in the course of a year from one Member
               JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                     State to another in order to take up employment there,
                                                                         greater social security contributions than those which
                     of 26 January 1999                                  would be payable, in similar circumstances, by a
                                                                         worker who has continued to reside throughout the
in Case C-18/95 (request for a preliminary ruling by the
                                                                         year in the Member State in question, where the first
Gerechtshof te 's-Hertogenbosch): F. C. Terhoeve v.
                                                                         worker is not also entitled to additional social
Inspecteur      van    de    Belastingdienst     Particulieren/
                                                                         benefits.
                Ondernemingen Buitenland (1)
(Freedom of movement for workers Ð Combined
assessment covering income tax and social security
contributions Ð Non-applicability to workers who                     3. A heavier contributions burden on a worker who
transfer their residence from one Member State to another                transfers his residence from one Member State to
of a social contributions ceiling applicable to workers who              another in order to take up employment there, which
have not exercised their right to freedom of movement Ð                  is in principle incompatible with Article 48 of the
Possible offsetting by income tax advantages Ð Possible                  Treaty, may not be justified either by the fact that it
   incompatibility with Community law Ð Consequences)                    stems from legislation whose objective is to simplify
                                                                         and coordinate the levying of income tax and social
                       (1999/C 100/04)                                   security contributions, or by difficulties of a technical
                                                                         nature preventing other methods of collection, or else
                                                                         by the fact that, in certain circumstances, other
                (Language of the case: Dutch)                            advantages relating to income tax may offset, or
                                                                         indeed outweigh, the disadvantage as to social
                                                                         contributions.
  (Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be
          published in the European Court Reports)
                                                                     4. When assessing whether the burden of social security
                                                                         contributions borne by a worker who has transferred
                                                                         his residence from one Member State to another in
In Case C-18/95, reference to the Court under Article 177                order to take up employment there is heavier than that
of the EC Treaty by the Gerechtshof te 's-Hertogenbosch                  borne by a worker who has continued to reside in the
(Regional      Court     of    Appeal,       's-Hertogenbosch)           same Member State, all income relevant under
Netherlands, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings                 national law for determining the amount of
pending before that court between: F. C. Terhoeve and                    contributions, including, as the case may be, income
Inspecteur      van    de    Belastingdienst      Particulieren/         arising from real property, must be taken into account.
Ondernemingen Buitenland (Tax Inspector for Foreign
Individuals and Undertakings) Ð on the interpretation of
Articles 7 and 48 of the EEC Treaty and Article 7(2) of
Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 of the Council of                        5. If the contested national legislation is incompatible
15 October 1968 on freedom of movement for workers                       with Article 48 of the Treaty, a worker who transfers
within the Community (OJ, English Special Edition 1968                   his residence from one Member State to another in
(II), p. 475) Ð the Court, composed of: P. J. G. Kapteyn,                order to take up employment there is entitled to have
President of the Fourth and Sixth Chambers, acting for the               his social security contributions set at the same level as
President, G. Hirsch and P. Jann, President of Chambers,                 that of the contributions which would be payable by a
G. F. Mancini (Rapporteur), J. C. Moitinho de Almeida,                   worker who has continued to reside in the same
C. Gulmann, J. L. Murray, L. Sevón, M. Wathelet, R.                      Member State.
Schintgen and K. M. Ioannou, Judges; Advocate-General:
D. Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer; D. Louterman-Hubeau, Principal
Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on
26 January 1999, in which it has ruled:                              (1) OJ C 74, 25.3.1995.
1. Article 48 of the EEC Treaty and Article 7 of
     Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 of the Council of