European Court says Portugal is violating the rules of free movement of goods. At issue is the failure to apply the appropriate depreciation tables to imported cars.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) today considered that the tax on used vehicles imported from another Member State applied in Portugal violates the rules of free movement of goods. More specifically, article 11 of the Vehicle Tax Code (CIV), under which the European Court considers that Portugal discriminates against used vehicles imported from other EU countries.“Portugal applies to second-hand motor vehicles imported from other Member States a system of taxation in which, on the one hand, the tax due on a vehicle used for less than a year is equal to the tax on a similar new vehicle put into circulation in Portugal and, on the other hand, the devaluation of motor vehicles used for more than five years is limited to 52%, for the purposes of calculating the amount of this tax, regardless of the real general condition of these vehicles”, considers the court. The judgment emphasizes that the tax payable in Portugal “is calculated without taking into account the real devaluation of these vehicles, so that it does not guarantee that these vehicles will be subject to a tax equal to the tax levied on similar used vehicles. available on the national market”.
We recall that in January 2014 Brussels had already asked the Portuguese government to change the legislation in order to take into account the devaluation of vehicles when calculating the registration tax. Portugal did nothing and following this ruling, the European Commission must impose a deadline for Portugal to amend the legislation in question. Otherwise Portugal may receive a fine that will be determined by European authorities.
According to the newspaper Expresso, Portugal has argued with the European Commission that the national regime for the taxation of used cars from other Member States is not discriminatory, as there is the possibility for taxable persons to request an assessment of the vehicle in order to ensure that the amount of this tax does not exceed the amount of residual tax incorporated in the value of similar vehicles already registered in national territory.
Source: Express