Press Release: Pension taxation: Commission refers Belgium to the Court of Justice and requests Italy to end discrimination

The European Commission decided on 22 October 2004 to refer Belgium to the Court of Justice because Belgium was too slow in changing its discriminatory pension taxation rules. The main problem was that, under Belgian legislation, pension contributions paid to foreign funds were not tax deductible while contributions paid to domestic funds were. Similarly the Commission formally requested Italy to change its pension taxation rules. In Italy, also, pension contributions paid to foreign funds were not tax deductible while contributions paid to domestic funds were.