Request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal de première instance de Liège (Belgium) lodged on 20 February 2024 - John Cockerill SA v Belgian State

(Case C-135/24, John Cockerill)

Language of the case: French

Referring court

Tribunal de première instance de Liège

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: John Cockerill SA

Defendant: Belgian State

Questions referred

Does Article 4 of Directive 2011/96/EU ¹ have direct effect and, combined with other sources of EU law, must it be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State:

which introduces a tax consolidation system (the intra-group transfer) allowing groups of companies to transfer, under certain conditions, some or all of the taxable profits made by some subsidiaries to other subsidiaries that have incurred losses in the tax year (the intra-group transfer), and

which excludes from that advantage loss-making companies, for the amount of the dividends received, which qualify for exemption under the legislation of the Member State transposing Directive 2011/96/EU?

Is that legislation likely to fall within the scope of Article 1(2) of Directive 2011/96/EU, which states that it ‘shall not preclude the application of domestic or agreement-based provisions required for the prevention of fraud or abuse’?

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¹ Council Directive 2011/96/EU of 30 November 2011 on the common system of taxation applicable in the case of parent companies and subsidiaries of different Member States (OJ 2011 L 345, p. 8).