Renneberg: ECJ Unjustifiably Expands Schumacker Doctrine to Losses from Financing of Personal Dwelling

Abstract

In the November 2007 issue of European Taxation, an article considered the decision of the Netherlands Supreme Court of 22 December 2006 to request a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the case of Mr Renneberg. The author of the current article now critically examines the ECJ's decision of 16 October 2008 in Renneberg. Although the ECJ's decision is understandable in the light of previous decisions, the author disagrees with it in this case.