PhD student: Mrs J. Leroy

Promotors: Mrs Prof E. Van der Velde, Prof R.H.C. Luja

Duration: 1/10/2016 - 30/9/2020

PhD defence: Hasselt, 7/7/2021

Abstract:

In principle, EU Member States act sovereignly in the field of direct taxation. However, they should respect European law, such as the prohibition of State aid (article 107 TFEU). When the European Commission decides that an EU Member State granted illegal (fiscal) State aid, the latter must recover this aid. This recovery obligation raises many questions, which this research wants to answer. Two perspectives are hereby used: the legal consequences of the European Commissions decision and the legal protection of the taxpayer during and after the execution of the recovery. These perspectives allow to focus the research on unexplored interactions between internal Belgian law (taks lax, administrative/constitutional law, civil law) and European (State aid) law. Attention is also paid to the specific context of the division of powers in Belgium, and the recovery framework used in other EU Member States. This research is supervised by Prof. Dr. Elly Van de Velde (promotor, Hasselt University) and Prof. Dr. Raymond Luja (co-promotor, Maastricht University).