Taxation: Commission refers France to the Court of Justice for discrimination in the taxation of dividends

The European Commission announced on 8 December 2016 its decision to take France before the European Court of Justice after failing to fully comply with a judgement from 2011 (in Case C-310/09 Accor) related to taxation of dividends.

The dispute concerns the refund of tax paid in France by companies with subsidiaries in other countries of the European Union (under the 'advance payment of tax' mechanism). Although the Council of State had referred questions for preliminary ruling to the Court, it then adopted a restrictive interpretation of the CJEU judgment in two judgments handed down in December 2012. The Commission takes the view that those judgments are incompatible with EU law.

The Commission had already sent France a letter of formal notice on 27 November 2014, followed by a reasoned opinion on 29 April 2016.