Sharp rise in cases referred to CJEU since credit crunch

The number of new tax cases sent to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has risen by a fifth since the credit crunch. According to Pinsent Masons more businesses and other taxpayers are using the court to challenge the actions of national tax authorities.

Between 2005 and 2010 there were on average 50 new tax cases a year but between 2011 and 2015 this rose by 22% to 61 a year.

Andrew Scott director at Pinsent Masons said: ‘The reach of EU law has widened considerably and continues to do so with the result that an increasing amount of UK tax law is affected. More businesses and other taxpayers have therefore managed to find grounds for challenging UK tax law.’

He said taxpayers had used EU law to contest a range of taxes imposed by member states such as...