Staatssecretaris van Financiën v X BV

In the Netherlands case of Staatssecretaris van Financiën v X BV (CJEU Case C-651/11) the shares in a company had been held by four different companies before they were sold to a public company in 1996. One of the vendor companies (X) which had held a 30% shareholding reclaimed input tax on the professional services relating to the sale. The tax authority issued an assessment to recover the tax and X appealed. The case was referred to the CJEU for a ruling on the interpretation of art 5(8) of the EC Sixth Directive. The CJEU held that the disposal of a 30% shareholding did not amount to ‘the transfer of a totality of assets’ within art 5(8) ‘irrespective of the fact that the other shareholders transfer all the other shares in that company to the same person at practically the same time’. (The CJEU...