Enhancing Worker Mobility via the Mobility Directive: Arrange the Tax Consequences for Supplementary Pension Rights Now!

Abstract:

On 21 May 2014 the Mobility Directive entered into force. The Directive stipulates minimum conditions for enhancing worker mobility between Member States by improving the acquisition and preservation of supplementary pension rights. The aim of the European Commission is to improve the mobility of workers between Member States. The goal of this Directive is to reduce the impediments created by supplementary pension scheme rules related to employment relationships. Coordination and guidance exist at the European level in the fields of social security and pension law. Without a change in tax law rules, however, labour mobility will continue to be hampered. Where it is clear in Regulation 883/2004, Council Directive (EC) No. 98/49/EC and the Mobility Directive what in general terms qualifies as a pension, such qualification for tax purposes remains complicated. Due to the fiscal sovereignty of Member States, each Member State is free to apply its own conditions and requirements before recognizing a supplementary pension scheme. This contribution will address the entry into force of the Mobility Directive, the coherence of coordination rules concerning statutory pension rights and directives relating to supplementary pension rights, and will explore the extent to which at the European level in particular a connection can be made to fiscal regulation in order to optimize labour mobility.