Request for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato (Italy) lodged on 30 September 2019 — AIRBNB Ireland UC, Airbnb Payments UK Ltd v Agenzia delle Entrate

(Case C-723/19)

Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Consiglio di Stato

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellants: AIRBNB Ireland UC, Airbnb Payments UK Ltd

Respondent: Agenzia delle Entrate

Questions referred

Do the provisions and principles of EU law, including Articles 4, 5 et seq. of Directive 1535/2015/EU, ¹ Article 8 of Directive 98/34/EC ² and Article 56 TFEU, preclude a national provision that, without prior notification of the European Commission, imposes on the operator of an online property rental platform ‘technical regulations for the provision of information society services’ consisting in disclosure requirements (the transmission to the Revenue Agency of data concerning agreements concluded on the platform) and fiscal requirements (the levying of a withholding tax on payments made in relation to agreements concluded on the platform and subsequent payment to the Treasury)?

Do the provisions and principles of EU law, including Articles 3, 18, 32, 44, 49, 56, 101 et seq., 116, 120, 127 et seq. TFEU and Directives 2000/31/EC ³ and 2006/123/EC, ⁴ preclude a national provision that:

introduces, for operators of an online property rental search platform, obligations for the collection and transmission of data relating to agreements;

introduces, for those operators of online platforms that handle payments in respect of short-term rental agreements, the obligation to act as a withholding agent or agent with liability for payment of the tax;

introduces, for operators of online platforms that are non-resident and are acknowledged as not having a permanent establishment in Italy, the obligation to appoint a tax representative;

introduces, also with regard to non-resident persons without a permanent establishment in Italy, the obligation to act as agents with liability for payment of the tax in relation to the temporary residence levy (imposta di soggiorno)?

Do the fundamental principles of EU law preclude, in general terms, national rules that have the effect of passing on to an undertaking responsibility for the inefficiencies in the State’s assessment and collection of taxes?

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¹     Directive (EU) 2015/1535 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 September 2015 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical regulations and of rules on Information Society services (OJ 2015 L 241, p. 1).

²     Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 June 1998 laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations (OJ 1998 L 204, p. 37).

³     Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market ('Directive on electronic commerce') (OJ 2000 L 178, p. 1).

⁴     Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market (OJ 2006 L 376, p. 36).