Case Notes
| DOI | 10.1177/1023263X1502200408 |
| Published date | 01 August 2015 |
| Date | 01 August 2015 |
| Subject Matter | Case Notes |
616 22 MJ 4 (2015)
CASE NOTES
COORDINATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY
Drawing the Borderline between Social Security
Contributions and Taxes
Case C -623/13 M i n i s t r e d e l ’ É c o n o m i e e t d e s F i n a n c e s v . G é ra r d d e R u y t e r , EU:C:2015:123
K D*
§1. INT RODUCTI ON
In de Ruyter,1 the Court of Justice was asked whether lev ies on income from assets, which
under national law are labelled a s a tax and are used for the nancing of social security,
fall with in the scope of Regulation 1408/712 on the coordination of social security
systems, as replaced in 2010 by Regulation 883/2004.3 e answer to this question was
of the utmost relevance because t he rules for the coordination of social secu rity systems
and tax systems d i er.
Regulations 1408/71 and 883/2004 seek to fa cilitate the exercise of EU free movement
rights by establishing a system of co-ordination4 according to which persons moving
within the Union are subject to t he social securit y legislation of one Member State only so
as to avoid overlapping of national legislations and the complicat ions which could result
therefrom.5 For economically active pers ons, the lex loci laboris applies: they a re subject
to the legislation of the Member State where they perform their activities, regardless of
the Member States where they reside. In ot her words, the competent Member State is the
state of (self-)employment.
* Dr. Katharina D axkobler is worki ng with an intern ational tax consu ltancy and adv isory rm in Vienna
(Austria). She was a resea rch and teaching as sociate at the Instit ute for Austrian and Inter national Tax
Law at the Vienna Universit y for Economics and Busi ness (WU). e author tha nks Prof. Dr. Bernha rd
Spiegel for his helpful fe edback.
1 Case C-623/13 Ministre de l’Éco nomie et des Finances v. Gérard d e Ruyter, EU:C:2015:123.
2 Regulation (E EC) No 1408/71 of the Counci l of 14June 1971 on t he application of social secur ity
schemes to employed persons a nd their famil ies moving within t he Community, [1971] OJ L 149/2.
3 Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29April 2004, [2004]
OJ L 166/1.
4 Recital 4 of Reg ulation 1408/71.
5 Recital 8 of Reg ulation 1408/71.
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