Link: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2020-04/cp200054en.pdf

Languages: de el en fr it nl pl pt sv

Court of Justice of the European Union 

PRESS RELEASE No 54/20

Luxembourg, 30 April 2020
Judgment in Case C-168/19 HB v Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale (INPS) and C-169/19, IC v INPS 
 
The Italian tax regime resulting from the Italian-Portuguese double taxation convention does not infringe the principles of freedom of movement and nondiscrimination 
Pensioners in the private and public sectors may be subject to different national tax regulations 

HB and IC, of Italian nationality, are former Italian public sector employees receiving a retirement pension from the Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale (National Social Security Institute, Italy) (‘the INPS’) After transferring their residence to Portugal, they requested the INPS, in 2015, that they receive, pursuant to the Italian-Portuguese double taxation convention1, the gross amount of their pension without deduction of tax at source by Italy, so as to be able to benefit from the tax advantages offered by Portugal. 

The INPS rejected those requests, taking the view that those rules apply only to Italian privatesector pensioners who have transferred their residence to Portugal and to Italian public-sector pensioners who, in addition to having transferred their residence to Portugal, have acquired Portuguese nationality (a condition which HB and IC do not meet).