Other cases that caught our eye 23 September 2022

In Gallaher v HMRC (Case C-707) the advocate general concluded that the right to freedom of establishment did not preclude domestic UK law imposing an immediate tax charge on a transfer of assets by a UK resident company to a related company resident in Switzerland in a situation where those companies are both wholly owned subsidiaries of a common parent company tax resident in another member state and in circumstances where such a transfer would be made on a tax-neutral basis if the related company were resident in the UK. Restrictions on the right to freedom of establishment resulting from the difference in treatment between national and cross-border transfers of assets within a group are justified by the need to preserve a balanced allocation of taxing powers. There was no need for UK law to defer the imposition of a tax charge in order to ensure that the...