15.6.2013

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 171/23

(Case C-211/13)

2013/C 171/45

Language of the case: German

Parties

Applicant: European Commission (represented by: W. Mölls and W. Roels, acting as Agents)

Defendant: Federal Republic of Germany

Form of order sought

The applicant claims that the Court should:

—declare that, by adopting and retaining provisions under which only a low tax-free allowance is granted when inheritance and gift tax are applied to immoveable property situated in Germany if the donor or the deceased person and the acquiring party were resident in another Member State at the time of the inheritance or gift, whereas a considerably higher tax-free allowance is granted if at least one of the two parties concerned was resident in Germany at that time, the Federal Republic of Germany has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 63 TFEU;

—order the Federal Republic of Germany to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The taxation of inheritances and gifts is mitigated under German law by relatively high tax-free allowances, particularly in the case of inheritances and gifts between spouses, between parents and children and between certain relatives. These high tax-free allowances are, however, applicable only if Germany exercises an unrestricted right to tax whereas only a low, flat-rate tax-free allowance is applicable if the right to tax is restricted. According to the criteria which the Court of Justice set out in Mattner (1), those rules are incompatible with Article 63 TFEU.

*

Judgment in Case C-510/08 Mattner [2010] ECR I-3553.