The European Commission has published notices concerning infringement procedures in the field of taxation against three EU Member States; Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy.

Belgium has officially been asked by the European Commission to abolish additional taxation of certain types of income from capital deriving from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and not received/collected by an intermediary established in Belgium. The same income paid by an intermediary established in Belgium is subject only to withholding tax.

The European Commission has decided to refer the Netherlands to the EU's Court of Justice for discriminatory rules on inheritance and gift duties. Under Dutch legislation, country estates located in the Netherlands are fully or partially exempt from succession and gift duties, while inheritance or gifts of country estates in other European Economic Area (EEA) States are taxed on 100% of their market value.

Italy has also been referred by the European Commission to the Court of Justice for the VAT exemption it grants to ships. The exemption in the Italian legislation is not in line with what is allowed under the VAT Directive. On the one hand it goes further than what is allowed, by granting a VAT exemption to commercial vessels not sailing on the high seas and vessels intended for public bodies. On the other hand, it excludes some services that should be covered by the exemption such as for example the loading and unloading of vessels sailing on the high seas.