Request for a preliminary ruling from the Hof van Cassatie (Belgium) lodged on 7 July 2021 – VP Capital NV v Belgische Staat; other parties: PricewaterhouseCoopers Belastingadviseurs NV, Ernst & Young Tax Consultants BV, Ernst & Young Bedrijfsrevisoren BV

(Case C-414/21)

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Hof van Cassatie

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellant: VP Capital NV

Respondent: Belgische Staat

Other parties: PricewaterhouseCoopers Belastingadviseurs NV, Ernst & Young Tax Consultants BV, Ernst & Young Bedrijfsrevisoren BV

Question referred

Does freedom of establishment, as guaranteed by Article 49 TFEU, preclude national legislation, such as that at issue here, where it results in a Luxembourg company which records write-downs on shares in Luxembourg and which, although deducting those write-downs in principle from its taxable income, cannot actually deduct them from its taxable income because of the existence of a tax loss position, being taxed on the write-back of those write-downs in Belgium following the transfer of its registered office to Belgium, unless the increases in value masked by that write-back are allocated to a liability account not available for distribution, whereas a Belgian company which has recorded write-downs on shares in Belgium is not taxed on the write-back of those write-downs, provided that the write-downs had not been previously deducted from its Belgian taxable income, without needing to allocate the increases in value masked by that write-back to a liability account not available for distribution?

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