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Abstract:
In recent years, the European Commission has been requested to examine several tax amnesty laws adopted by Member States of the European Union. Three sets of rules of EU law turned out to be applicable to such legislation: (a) EU directives governing VAT (value added tax), (b) provisions of the EU Treaty on free circulation of capital and freedom to provide services, and (c) rules on State aid to undertakings. The purpose of the present article is both to analyse the main features of tax amnesties offered to taxpayers by some Member States and to examine the corresponding three groups of infringement proceedings which the European Commission opened against those Member States concerned. A particular attention is reserved to two judgments of crucial importance by which, upon application of the European Commission, the European Court of Justice declared in 2008 contrary to EU law two VAT amnesties adopted by the Italian Parliament.
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