Judgment of the Court of Justice in the National Grid Indus BV case – Golden Fleece or Pandora’s box?

Abstract

This paper examines the decision of the European Court of Justice in the National Grid Indus case issued on 29 November 2011, concerning exit tax levied on unrealised capital gains relating to the assets of a company transferring its place of management for tax purposes between Member States. The author indicates the significance of the judgment. She generally shares the ECJ’s opinion but argues that justifications based on the need to safeguard the allocation of taxing rights among Member States should not be rejected by the ECJ without any differentiation regarding specific circumstances. The author also considers whether the ECJ changed its view on the provisions introduced by the member states in their domestic law relating to remedies safeguarding the recovery of the tax, such as interest payments and bank guarantees, and mandatory provisions allowing for future decreases in value of the company assets transferred to another Member State.