Press Release: Direct taxation: Commission takes Portugal to the Court due to its discriminatory 2005 tax amnesty legislation

On 31 January, 2008, the European Commission decided to refer Portugal to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) because its 2005 tax amnesty legislation, which provided regularization at a preferential penalty rate of 2.5% for investments in Portuguese government bonds (instead of 5% in any other assets). The Commission considers that the tax amnesty did not respect the free movement of capital given that it dissuaded regularizing assets in forms other than Portuguese government bonds.