In Berlioz Investment Fund SA v Directeur de l’administration des contributions directes (Case C-682/15) (16 May 2017) the CJEU found that a tax authority which receives an information request from another tax authority is required to check whether the information sought has ‘foreseeable relevance’ and that the national courts have jurisdiction to oversee that process.
Berlioz was a joint stock company governed by Luxembourg law which had received the dividends from its subsidiary Cofima a French company free of withholding tax. The French authorities questioning whether the exemption actually applied had sent a request for information to the Luxembourg Tax Administration which had then sought the relevant information from Berlioz. Berlioz had refused to communicate some of the information requested and as a result a fine had been imposed.
Berlioz appealed and the fine was reduced but its request for...
