The European Commission recently published a long list of infringement proceedings for July which included proceedings against nine Member States for tax rules which don’t measure up to EU law in the eyes of the Commission.

Germany has been instructed to bring its VAT refund rules into line with the EU’s VAT Directive. The Commission has also requested The Netherlands to stop taxing transfers of pension capital by mobile workers.

The Commission issued a reasoned opinion to Portugal to bring the Lisbon airport tax in line with EU rules. Estonia must amend its rules on exchange of tax information as per the Directive on Administrative Cooperation in order to avoid the advancement of infringement proceedings. Greece must align its tax rules on the deduction of foreign losses with EU law and the Commission also requested that Italy bring its VAT rules on the supply of services relating to the importation of goods in line with EU law and to also cease the regional taxation of petrol for motor vehicles. Latvia has been formally given notice to amend its rules on the real estate tax in Riga.

The Commission issued a number of formal notices to the UK asking it to align its rules with EU law on income tax relief for losses on disposals of shares, on tax relief for loans to traders and to align national practices for VAT Mini One-Stop-Shop scheme with EU rules. You can read Dr. Brian Keegan’s thoughts on this in his regular column in the Sunday Business Post.

Belgium has been issued with a formal notice to bring its rules on taxation of interest payments to Belgian residents with accounts in Luxembourg and Austria into line with EU law.

The list of infringement proceedings for July is available on the Commission’s website.