Taxation: Commission decides to refer the Netherlands to the Court for its rules on the cross-border transfer of pension capital and cross-border provision of pensions - Main contents

The European Commission decided today to refer the Netherlands to the Court of Justice of the European Union for its rules on the cross-border provision of pensions and the transfer of pension capital.

Today's referral concerns three different rules in the Dutch cross-border pension tax regime. First, foreign service providers are required to provide guarantees to the Dutch authorities if pension capital is transferred from the Netherlands to a foreign provider or if foreign providers want to provide services on the Dutch market. Second, former employees also have to provide guarantees if the pension capital is transferred to a foreign service provider or if they want to buy pension services from a foreign provider. Third, transfers of pension capital to foreign providers by mobile workers taking up employment outside the Netherlands are tax exempt only if the foreign providers assume the responsibility for any tax claims, or the taxpayers themselves provide a guarantee.

According to the Commission, these conditions are restrictions to the free movement of citizens and workers, the freedom of establishment, the freedom to provide services and the free movement of capital (Articles 21, 45, 49, 56 and 63 of the Treaty on the functioning of the EU (TFEU).

Background

The decision to refer the matter to the Court follows the Netherlands' failure to bring its legislation into line with EU law as requested by the Commission in its additional reasoned opinion of 27 November 2019.

For More Information

The key decisions in the October 2020 infringement package

FAQ on infringements procedures, see MEMO/12/12.

On the EU infringements procedure